Assignment 16 Griffin Coates

Net Neutrality Speech

Tim Berners-Lee, a name so important in this day and age, yet almost nobody in this generation knows who he is or what he has accomplished. In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee invented the internet as we know it today. This invention has expanded beyond what anybody thought possible. In 1991 there were only three million devices connected to the internet. This number has increased exponentially with nearly 8.4 billion devices connected in 2017. The key to this expansion can be boiled down to two words: net neutrality. It allows competitive online business marketing and social media platforms where users can present their opinions, free of restrictions Now what is net neutrality and why is it such an important part of our society? Steve Kovach of Business Insider defines it as “The principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. Under net-neutrality protections, internet service providers are barred from blocking, slowing, or providing preferred treatment to particular sites and services.” This enables all internet users in the United States to access every website or service, from Snapchat to Gmail to online banking, with the same speed and reliability as any other service at no cost. Without net neutrality, users could have to pay fees to access high-speed internet, or have to pay a monthly fee to the use online services such as streaming or gaming platforms. Recently, this became a reality. Federal Communications Committee, or FCC, chairman Ajit Pai was pushing for an end to net neutrality and achieved his goal, with the vote passing last Thursday. Now we are living in a society where providers have the right to hike up prices exponentially and block content at their will. In order to preserve the economic interests of broadband users, free speech and to spur online economic growth, we need to push to reinstate the net neutrality laws that were removed.

            As of right now, all users have equal access to the internet regardless of their internet service provider, or ISP. This means no matter what you’re using the web for, you get the same speed and reliability as everyone else. This right was protected under the 2015 FCC Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet Act, which prohibited the blocking, throttling or paid prioritization of any internet traffic. Simply stated, this protects the users right to fair and free access of the internet. However, with the recent decision of the FCC in mind, these rights could be gone for good. Big broadband providers, such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable, now have the authority to control our internet. Results of this could possibly include payment to access gaming platforms, email or any other internet based service. One of the most likely outcomes is the dividing of the internet into two tiers. One tier would be the fast lane, where users pay an exorbitant fee to access high speed internet. The second tier would be the free option, where the internet would be slower and prioritized underneath the first tier. Verizon, which serves as an internet provider to nearly 149 million people, has already expressed interest in a similar plan. If any ISP’s implemented plans similar to this, users would experience slower internet speeds on certain sites, unless they pay to upgrade their service. The sole purpose of plans like these would be to put money in the pockets of ISP’s, by taking it from the wallets of their customers.

However, money isn’t the only factor when it comes to the rights of the consumers. The principle of internet freedom is intertwined with freedom of speech. Everyday millions of users post to blogs, Twitter, Facebook and many other online mediums in order to broadcast their opinion to the masses. However, the internet is also used for more serious matters such as politicking or spreading the word about certain organizations and businesses. This goes to show that the internet has become an integral part of politics and creating a community of informed citizens. Now that net neutrality is repealed, we could lose it all. Governments like China’s have no net neutrality laws, and they prohibit the search of certain terms and sometimes full out block websites and content. Now that we have no longer have these laws to protect user, ISP’s have the power to block certain content on the web, whether it be a confederate flag or simply a funny tweet. A recent example of this popped up in 2007, when Verizon attempted to prohibit Naral, an abortion rights group, from sending out messages to its followers. As a result of this, much controversy and backlash arose, sending tremors throughout the world of net neutrality. If text messages are being blocked, what’s next? Blocked television shows? Why doesn’t the first amendment protect us? Regarding this, Adam Liptak of The New York Times says “Messages urging political action are generally thought to be at the heart of what the First Amendment protects. But the First Amendment limits government power, not that of private companies like Verizon.” Based on the quote, we can infer that large internet providers will use their power over the internet to restrict the content we can view, inhibiting the users to see only what the ISP wants them to see. In turn, the blocking of content would lead to a community of less informed citizens, resulting from solely seeing the viewpoint of the ISP’s.

The blocking and prohibiting of content doesn’t affect just consumers, but also businesses trying to find a foothold through online marketing. Currently, all businesses have an equal playing field on the internet. They all get promoted equally, have equal access speeds and each have their own client base in which they reach out to. Without net neutrality laws in place, the playing field becomes favorable to larger corporations. With deeper pockets, they can afford to pay the higher fees to give high speed access to their marketed consumers. Smaller, growing business wouldn’t have the money to pay the fees, giving them no way to grow and expand their market, offering slower internet speeds This presents a problem. How are new innovative ideas that are crucial to our societies’ growth supposed to develop? They can’t without net neutrality laws. These new companies would be overlooked by consumers, who would favor the larger companies with higher internet speeds and easier access. Innovation and company growth would be stifled, as users would go straight to the larger sites, such as EBay or Amazon, to find products.

In sum, net neutrality is a vital part of our community. With the repeal of these laws comes a restriction of our speech. Your internet provider could block anything they don’t want you to see, or throttle the access speed down to unbearable. With this comes citizens having to pay more for access to broadband and streaming platforms such as Netflix or Xbox, hurting the consumers in turn and forcing them to pay even more for essentially the same internet service. Moreover, with the slowing of internet speeds, businesses wouldn’t have fair access to their consumers — stifling entrepreneurship growth across the country. These factors could become detrimental to our society, which is why I’m urging you all to vote to reinstate the net neutrality laws