Threat to net neutrality is growing
Scared about a world without net neutrality? You probably should be. The US is expected to repeal net neutrality laws later this month, handing more power to internet providers.
In a sneaky way, we’ve already started to see net neutrality – the idea that internet service providers should treat all data on the internet the same – being withheld in New Zealand by the telecommunications companies.
Yet it’s packaged as a positive: both Spark and Vodafone offer ‘‘Socialiser’’ and ‘‘Social Pass’’ addons.
What do they do? They give you more gigabytes (or even let you go unlimited) to access certain internet websites and apps, namely social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Similar add-ons for other select content also exist, such as Vodafone’s Video Pass, Music Pass, and so on.
On the face of it this doesn’t seem problematic. In fact, it seems like a good thing: telcos are letting their customers use extra data, beyond their normal allowance, on the services that they likely use most. For a small fee ($9 in Spark’s case, between $2 and $20 for Vodafone’s variations), of course.
So I spoke with Andrew Cushen, deputy chief executive of InternetNZ, about this issue. ‘‘This shows how this debate is tricky... the key characteristic is: ‘who chooses which sites are included?’ ‘‘ he asks.
‘‘If you look at the fine print of what Vodafone and Spark are both doing, then it’s those telcos that are picking winners for you, rather than consumers making the choice. So Vodafone’s Video Pass doesn’t actually include all kinds of video – just those that they presumably have arrangements with. Likewise, Spark includes some social media; not all.
‘‘Whenever the telcos start to choose which sites customers can benefit from, rather than leaving the consumer to decide or treating all traffic equally, then that starts to look a lot less like net neutrality.’’
What telcos are doing here is defying the conventions of net neutrality. Already in New Zealand, all data is not being treated equally. It is being qualified.
‘‘This is problematic in the current climate, particularly given the moves afoot in the United States to curb net neutrality, and with some questionable actions emerging from New Zealand telcos,’’ says Cushen.
In countries like Portugal, net neutrality is already past tense. The Los Angeles Times recently offered a view into a nation where one pays more for access to certain websites. In that country, access to messaging services like Whatsapp, Skype, iMessage, and Google Hangouts will cost you €4.99 (NZ$8.60).
Want social media? Another €4.99. Netflix and YouTube? Yet another €4.99... it goes on and on. What’s more, such fees go direct to the ISP. They are in addition to what a person would pay a company for their service (eg Netflix), and they’re also on top of a standard monthly internet cost for accessing the rest of the web.
In previous years we heard a lot about data throttling in our nation, which was in contrast with net neutrality. Today, there remains no specific net neutrality regulations in New Zealand, so we’re in a grey zone where anything is possible.
On the flip side, there’s nothing to stop Kiwi telcos snuggling up with certain tech companies to deals on better and faster access to data like streaming video. Thus, law firms like Russell McVeagh maintain that net neutrality remains ‘‘an open question in New Zealand’’.
‘‘That all starts to look like slippery slopes away from net neutrality, where we, the users of the internet, are free to determine where we go; which sites we use, and which services we use online,’’ Cushen adds.
I surmise that many ISPs globally will be playing the ‘‘long game’’ on net neutrality removal. The goal? To change our social perception on how much certain kinds of data is worth from a monetary perspective.
The result will be that we are a society that is more than happy to pay certain amounts for certain kinds of web access. That, scaremongering aside, will mean net neutrality will be dead.