Net Neutrality

There are many rights that people enjoy every day. It is important not to take those rights for granted because they can be threatened. It is important to have laws or regulations to protect people’s rights. Having access to the internet is a freedom that many people enjoy, which is protected by a regulation called net neutrality. Unfortunately, net neutrality has been in the news lately because the current FCC plans to repeal it in December. This plan would threaten internet freedom, but it is not too late for people to be informed about net neutrality.

With all the talk about net neutrality there might be some people wondering what it is. A simple definition of net neutrality would be “the idea, principle, or requirement that internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination” (Merriam-Webster.com). The purpose of this idea is to protect people’s right to access any website without paying extra or having slower speeds. It is better for consumers because they would have the freedom to go on the internet with no restrictions from internet service providers (ISPs) on the websites they can visit. This seems to be a reasonable idea that would be a good regulation to protect consumers.

Net neutrality rules were introduced and passed in December of 2010, but it was delayed in 2011 with a federal lawsuit filed by Verizon (obamawhitehouse.archives.gov). A Federal Appeals Court struck down the ruling in 2014, which lead to a petition signed by 105,572 people that allowed the FCC to vote in favor of the rules again on February 26, 2015 (obamawhitehouse.archives.gov). This gives a timeline for how long it took for net neutrality protections to be implemented but it does not describe what the FCC did. According to Carroll (2014), the FCC reclassified “internet service providers as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, meaning they would be treated as public utilities…and they would be subject to more regulation”.

The purpose of this is to enable the FCC to regulate the internet so they can protect consumers. The FCC also created protections that ensured “internet services providers could not block websites or impose limits on users” (obamawhitehouse.archives.gov). Making it a utility prevents ISPs from making the internet like cable where you pay for access to certain websites and pay extra for more websites. Net neutrality makes this illegal, which gives people unlimited access to any website they want to visit. This could affect businesses because ISPs could change them extra for their website to have faster speeds. Smaller businesses would be at a competitive disadvantage because big businesses can afford faster speeds and smaller ones cannot.

Net neutrality appears to be a reasonable regulation that keeps the internet free, but the current FCC disagrees and views repealing the regulation as making the internet free. The FCC plans to repeal net neutrality and to remove the FCC’s authority to police unreasonable actions by internet service providers during a meeting on December 14 (Mcgill, 2017). The FCC says net neutrality is a burdensome regulation that “put at risk online investment and innovation, threatening the very open Internet it purported to preserve”. This seems to suggest that net neutrality rules create less investment, which leads to Americans having less options for internet providers. The problem is there was not much competition before net neutrality was passed. According to the Economic and Statistics Administration in 2013 88 percent of Americans had access to 2 or more ISPs with 3 Mbps, 37 percent with 25 Mbps, 8 percent with 100 Mbps, and only 3 percent with 1 plus Gbps. This shows that Americans did not have access to many ISPs for higher speed internet even before net neutrality was passed in 2015.

There are some that may think 4 Mbps is enough but it is too slow to be sufficient enough for a broadband service. Letzter (2016) says the FCC changed the standard speed for ISPs to be considered broadband in 2015 from 4 Mbps to 25 Mbps. This means 25 Mbps is what is now considered standard, which shows Americans do not have very many ISP options for that speed. The major ISPs do not have much competition when it comes to broadband, which does not create enough incentive to have improved and affordable services. The FCC’s claim about net neutrality creating less investment is not necessarily true either. According to Letzter (2016), companies invested “26% less in broadband infrastructure” from 2010-2015 than the investments made from 2005-2009. These numbers show net neutrality is not to blame for less investments into broadband because investments started decreasing before it was implemented.

Making the internet a utility is not an unnecessary regulation because it guarantees everyone has access to the internet. The internet has become necessary and can be considered a utility, which is something everyone needs such as water or electricity. According to Pew Researcher, 88 percent of people have the internet and 73 percent were home broadband users in 2016. There are millions of Americans who rely on the internet to apply for jobs, pay bills, find houses or cars to buy, shop, find information, view entertainment, and much more. The internet is now a necessity for many people, which makes it important to protect and regulate like a utility guaranteeing everyone has access to it.

Net neutrality is a complex topic, but it is an important rule to ensure people have full access to the internet. The FCC voted in favor of net neutrality rules in 2015 and now two years later they are against it. Their reasoning is flawed because there was less investment into broadband and little competition before net neutrality. This may not go through right away because pro-net neutrality groups may take the FCC to court like Verizon did in 2011. If you support net neutrality, you can call your representatives or support pro-net neutrality groups.

References

Carroll, L. (2014, Nov. 13). What is Net Neutrality? Retrieved from http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/nov/13/what-net-neutrality/

http://esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/competition-among-us-broadband-service-providers.pdf

https://www.fcc.gov/restoring-internet-freedom

Letzter, R. (2016, Jan. 28). Here's Why Internet Services Are So Abysmal in America. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/why-us-internet-services-stink-2016-1

Mcgill, M.H. (2017, Nov. 20). FCC Plans Total Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules. Retrieved from https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/20/net-neutrality-repeal-fcc-251824

net neutrality. 2017. Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved November 30, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/net%20neutrality

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/323681

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/internet-broadband/