Net neutrality preserves our right to freely communicate and view content online. It allows people to be in control of their internet experience and enables free speech.
After years of battle over the future of the internet, strong net neutrality rules were put in place by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in February of 2015. The Trump administration is seeking to reverse those policies.
Ajit Pai is the chairman of the FCC and a former Verizon lawyer. He is the biggest advocate for this change. Net neutrality treats the internet as a utility service, and Pai wants to classify it as an information service, making it free of regulation.
Pai believes that regulation of the internet hinders innovation and investment in the expansion of broadband infrastructure. Congress will be voting on whether to repeal net neutrality on Dec. 14.
Net neutrality means that big corporate internet providers such as Verizon and AT&T cannot govern any public access to online content. It means the internet moves at the same pace regardless of where you are or what provider you use.
The corporate internet providers stand to gain the most from net neutrality rules being repealed.
If net neutrality laws are repealed, internet providers will be allowed to have a “slow” and a “fast” paced internet. This means that people will have to pay more money if they want faster internet.
As it stands, everyone has equal rights to the internet.
“Our Internet economy is the envy of the world because it is open to all,” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement.
Without net neutrality the country would encounter paid prioritization which means that providers collect money from corporate websites such as Amazon or Netflix for faster access to their consumers.
This could lead to consumers paying for access to certain areas of the internet on top of the monthly subscriptions they already purchase. This will make it more difficult for online companies and streaming services to flourish because their consumers will have to pay more for access to their sites.
Internet users will not have control over where their data usages are going. Online research will be a whole different story if internet providers and big companies regulate the content users see online. Users will not be able to gain perspective on a topic or story because certain views will be blocked. The content we see online will be based on who pays more.
“I think the whole point of the internet is that everyone is able to access the same content at the same kind of speed,” Brianne Armstrong, a communication major at Sinclair said, “Especially for political things, all of America needs to know the same kind of information.”
One major concern of the reversal of net neutrality laws is that minority groups such as African Americans and LGBT+ will not be able to organize social movements and voice their personal stories as easily as they can now.
There are ample examples of people that have gained their fame through the world wide web such as Justin Bieber, and people use the internet to run small businesses which is beneficial and helps to stimulate local economies.
“I like what I call an…explorer spirit,” Myra Bozeman, Professor of Communication at Sinclair said. “I like that people are doing their own thing, and starting businesses and inventing things and putting it on the internet. I could see that being stifled if this happens with net neutrality.”
The internet is a vessel for the public to communicate, generate events and gatherings and spread ideas. The repeal of net neutrality would drastically change how we use the internet in our day to day lives.
Kali Macklin
Reporter