I thought
this might be a worthwhile topic for a TGIF post. As an online community, we are the ones who benefit most
from free and open access to the World Wide Web; yet this topic has received
scant attention on our discussion boards.
Briefly, here are the issues that will impact our future:
High speed
Internet access is provided by only a handful of service providers - Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, and Cox, as
examples - which transfer our data from one end of the network to another. We expect full transparency, meaning we
do not want these firms to analyze, manipulate, package, or prejudice our
communications in any way.
Earlier
this month, however, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned two rules on a
technicality: One that barred
broadband providers from charging extra for data access, and one that prevented
them from blocking access to lawful content.
The
implications of this decision are troublesome. Without these rules, Internet providers may screen
everything we send across Cyberspace – our web log posts and comments, our emails,
videos, broadband telephone calls, and social media conversations. An unregulated Internet means any
provider may censor our content, or prejudice delivery of our content by
speeding up or slowing down transmission, or charge extra.
These are by no means straw man concerns. In the past, there have been several abuses
by Internet providers that have censored content for self-serving purposes,
most noteworthy:
AT&T – Jammed censored a performance of the rock group
Pearl Jam in 2007 because the company disapproved of the group’s anti-Iraq War
message;
Comcast – Blocked video-trading applications ostensibly for
the purpose of easing Internet traffic – except for the fact that Comcast
discriminated against an entire class of users during non-peak hours – because
Comcast is in the business of selling online video;
Verizon – Cut off the text-messaging system of NARAL
Pro-Choice America, stating that Verizon would not service any group “"that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute
content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to
any of our users;"
Telus – Blocked Internet subscribers from
accessing a website run by a union that was on strike against Telus.
These abuses can happen to you. If you care about this issue, here is what you can do: Petition the FCC here.
Update: How you will pay for Internet services once net neutrality is gone:
The wife believes that the providers of cable television content may have a significant stake in this fight. As Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and others bring content over the internet, it looks less and less attractive to pay for cable television. Just to never hear commercials again is worth far more than gold. The three major networks and PBS are mostly available via antenna. The Blue Meanies may be planning to limit the massive data transfer required by these services or possibly charge more in a vain effort to stem the tide of change.
ReplyDeleteDone! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs an amateur radio operator, I've been involved in many, many petitions to the FCC. That body is there to protect the interests of big money and each member seems to think only of what big money job she will get upon leaving and I don't hold much hope of getting anything out of them.
ReplyDelete"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever"
But we have to try, don't we? We have to believe the future is not totalitarianism disguised as freedom, that we have a place in the world as individual entities with choices and opportunities and not as bits of yeast in the ferment, cells in a body we cannot control: that it's about us, that it's our world.
“the individual is only a cell, Winston, and the weariness of the cell is the vigor of the organism.”
An open internet is hugely important, and it's important now to keep up with the issues of it. If anyone wants a refresher on net neutrality, here's a great short mockumentary: http://www.theinternetmustgo.com/
ReplyDelete