How we can defeat Big Telecom’s efforts to rule the Internet
They’re at it again. Despite overwhelming support for an open Internet, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wants to undo net neutrality in the United States.
And the big winner will be the giant telecommunications companies — and pretty much no one else.
For a glimpse into what a lack of neutrality looks like, just take a look at Portugal or New Zealand, which don’t have it. The landscapes are different, of course, but citizens there are seeing on a small-scale (usually with mobile Internet) the kind of thing U.S. telecoms hope to institute in a big way here: tiered access.
What does that mean?
It means you’ll have to pay more to get to particular platforms or content, more to make sure your speeds aren’t throttled when you try to go to certain (usually competing) platforms, or aren’t simply be blocked from accessing them at all.
Say your service provider doesn’t like competition from a particular app or website. Or that the provider doesn’t like that site’s politics. Without net neutrality, there’s nothing to stop that provider from stifling your access.
In places without net neutrality, we’re seeing bundling of services. If you want access to a group of social media apps (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), then you pay a certain price per month to get them. You might pay more money for another bundle, such as streaming video or music or even email and the cloud.
Not only is that annoying and cost prohibitive but it ices out smaller upstarts, stifling innovation and competition.
The Obama administration passed rules in 2015 to ensure an open Internet and bring high-speed access to schools and rural areas. President Obama recognized that Internet access is not a luxury but a necessity. The folks who would benefit the most from that technology are still the ones least likely to have access to it, largely because big telecoms want to quash competition and monopolize the business.
Already, the Trump administration has undone much of the progress made to ensure fair competition and access. Earlier this year, Pai opened a regulatory loophole that allowed the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Group to expand its ownership of local television news stations so that the company’s total audience reach is now 72% of U.S. households. The congressionally set threshold had been 39%.
What’s to be done? Pai and the other would-be gatekeepers of the Internet seem uninterested in what the American people want. And while I encourage protest, contacting your representatives and filing official opposition, there’s a larger movement underway that should become a national model.
Ultimately, the huge telecoms are going to continue to push tiered access. They’ve already dragged their feet when it comes to providing affordable, high-speed services to most places.
An actual, viable solution exists: Community or local government-run internet. In Detroit, the Equitable Internet Initiative is making this a reality, building community-owned wireless Internet infrastructure in towns that big telecom won’t touch.
Hundreds of towns nationwide have built their own Internet service providers.
Currently, the highest speed Internet connections are provided by local governments, such as the one in Chattanooga, Tenn., that’s made the city a hub for innovation. There are more examples, all with regular people banding together to find creative solutions to the problem.
This isn’t to say we should give up on fighting for net neutrality. But we should prepare for all possible outcomes, and work together for more equity and innovation.