The term net neutrality is new.
But the idea behind it has existed since the invention of the telegram and has also been
applied to other telecommunication technologies, like telephones.
Telegrams and telephones have been considered what is called common carriers under U.S.
law.
This simply means that the companies that own your telephone line have been forbidden
to give any preferential treatment to clients or their partners.
Without this law, it could mean that if AT&T partners up with Apple they might give a discounted
rate to people who buy an iPhone while they jack up the rate to anyone who buys let’s
say an Android.
In short the law protects us from being manipulated by these giant companies and makes sure they
treat us fairly and justly.
This law is also known as Title II of the Communications Act.
Basically phone companies have been regulated by a governmental organization known as the
Federal Communications Commission or FCC for short since 1934.
The purpose of the FCC is to make sure phone companies offer fair pricing and access.
But what does this have to do with the internet?
Net neutrality is basically the idea that the internet should have the same law applied
to it.
And in 2015 the FCC gave us that protection when it placed the internet under the common
carrier law.
This means that internet service providers, like Comcast and AT&T must treat everything
on the internet the same.
For example if Comcast and Google are in partnership, Comcast will not be allowed to block their
users from competing search engines like Yahoo or Bing.
Or if a Comcast customer uses an application on their computer like Bitorrent, which allows
you to download files directly off of another person’s computer (which ends up being mostly
porn, music and Game of Thrones), Comcast can’t block that application from internet
access.
And you might say that’s crazy to even think about – your internet providers blocking
you from certain websites or applications – I mean we aren’t in elementary school
anymore – and it isn’t the job of our internet service providers to regulate what
we do on the internet – the job we pay them to do is simply provide us with open internet
access.
But that doesn’t stop them from doing it anyways.
In fact a few years ago Comcast was secretly blocking Bitorrent on people’s computers
from accessing the internet and didn’t stop until the FCC intervened.
Another internet giant, AT&T, was restricting their customer’s access to FaceTime.
Why?
To get their customers to purchase bigger data plans.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Part 2: The Different Opinions.
So you’re probably asking why the hell would anyone want to end Net Neutrality.
This is something that provides us access to the open internet.
And by taking it away, it would mean putting more power into the hands of the internet
giants like Comcast and AT&T who could then regulate what we do on the web and which services
we use.
Well it turns out that there are a lot of arguments on this side of the table.
One even compares net neutrality to vanilla ice cream.
Jeffrey Dorfam, some econ professor, says that net neutrality is like if a store only
has vanilla ice cream for sale.
He says it limits people’s choices because many want and would pay for another flavor.
However, this is exactly what net neutrality is trying to prevent.
Giving the power to internet service providers to offer us only vanilla ice cream.
We want chocolate, caramel and even green tea from time to time and we don’t want
to pay for multiple internet service providers to get such a variety.
We want freedom of choice and a plethora of different flavors that come from one source.
Sure more internet service providers means more competition which might mean lower fees
to purchase internet access.
And that’s not a bad thing.
But what most are scared of, is that our internet service providers choosing what types of applications
or websites we can connect to.
And again we don’t just want to connect to a vanilla flavored website.
Ok, but that can’t be the only reason to end net neutrality, right?
The most recent advocate to end net neutrality is the current newly appointed FCC chairman
by way of Donald Trump, Ajit Varadaraj Pai.
Yeah you heard correctly.
The guy who is supposed to regulate our internet service providers is also the guy who wants
to end the regulation of our internet service providers.
So what are his reasons?
He says that when the FCC passed that law we talked about earlier in 2015, the one that
ensures internet service providers are regulated under the same law that telephone companies
are, we disincentivize companies from expanding internet access to a lot of parts of the country.
But the fact is, is that 87% of the American population uses the internet.
And of the 13% that don’t, the majority are just too old to care.
Another thing he says is that since 2015 net neutrality laws have been stifling investment
and that the top 12 internet service providers have lost around 5.6% in investments over
the past two years.
And while this may be true, if you just look at Comcast stock over the last two years it
is up 35%.
Not bad, huh?
I’m not an economist or the head of the FCC but it looks like things are going alright
for at least this internet giant.
Part 3: So why should you care about any of this anyways?
So why should you or me or anyone care about this?
Well on May 18 of 2017 the FCC voted to let Mr. Pai move forward with the changes he wants
to make to net neutrality which would do three major things.
But first a word from the president and CEO of the internet association, Michael Beckman:
"This is a critically important issue for the internet.
And frankly because we’ve had these rules, or at least the overhang of these rules since
2005, I do believe this is why you’ve had this great innovation online because you’ve
seen the barrier of entry is so very very low.
Imagine back in 2005 or 2010 if ISPs were able to play gatekeeper or charge entry, you
wouldn’t have all these new companies coming up and creating jobs and growing our economy
and that’s why we’re fighting to keep these rules.”
So what changes does Pai want to make to something that clearly already works for the consumer?
Simple.
In a nut shell he wants to make it more corporate friendly and less consumer and small business
friendly.
First this new policy removes net neutrality from its Title II protection that the internet
and telephones are both currently protected by and places it under something called Title
I Information Services.
What does this mean?
It means that the FCC would no longer be obligated to protect the consumer and online businesses
against “unjust and unreasonable” practices of internet service providers.
So basically Comcast and AT&T would have the go ahead to charge unreasonable prices (not
that it already doesn’t) to the consumer and small businesses.
Second it will block any future net neutrality rules that haven’t already been thought
of.
So if we notice a regulation that isn’t working in the policy, it doesn’t matter.
We won’t be able to improve on it or come up with a new policy that’s better.
And third the question about whether internet service providers can block or slow down access
to certain applications or websites (which both Comcast and AT&T have done in the past)
will be reopened.
So again why should you care?
Well you probably use the internet.
I mean you are watching this video.
But to be honest, in the end the only thing that matters is
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