The Fate of Net Neutrality: A Murkier Future?

The internet, as we know it, is once again facing the question on information access and freedom – at least in the United States. If you have not been paying attention to the news lately, the net neutrality in the US is under wide scrutiny, as the net neutrality is ‘threatened’ – once again – by the decision of the recently-elected FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Chairman, Ajit Pai, to repeal the FCC’s rule on net neutrality in 2015.[i] To counter this, on July 12, internet advocates from the country fled to the street, both physically and virtually, to oppose this decision – a movement widely known as the Day of Action, or Battle for the Net.[ii] It was reported that more than 125.000 organizations, websites, and protesters participated in the event, which also attracted more than 10 million people who saw the campaigns from the participating websites. The protest was also headlined by internet’s big names, from Netflix to PornHub, taking part in ‘simulating’ what would happen to the internet without net neutrality; slow, buffered, and even filtered contents.[iii] The FCC website also received a record-breaking 9 million comments supporting net neutrality, since their announcement to repeal the regulation last April.[iv] Despite such massive support from the people, the future of net neutrality still seems to be at the odds, as many experts mentioned, and this seems to be the real manifestation of the fear people discussed last year. How did this happen, and what does this mean for the internet?

As previously discussed, the net neutrality seems to be very colluded with political interests shaded by lobbyists and related stakeholders. To refresh the memory, net neutrality refers to treatment of equality to all data transmitted through the internet, as coined by Tim Wu 2002.[v] In practice, quoting the Vox Card, net neutrality refers to the idea that internet service providers (ISPs), including cable companies like Tim Warner and wireless providers like Sprint, should treat all internet traffic equally.[vi] The whole frantic and hysteria was triggered by the decision taken by the FCC in 2015 – led by Obama’s Democrats administration – to refrain ISP companies from gaining control over how the stream of internet shall be managed, in favour of the net neutrality. This means that ISPs can no longer deliberately slow-down internet access, or provide higher speed to those who pay more (of which has become a monopoly-like source of income for these ISPs).[vii] This was backed with huge supports, as the government was seen to be on the same page as the net neutrality; protecting the freedom and the rights of everyone to access internet. However, the ‘FCC’ planned to roll back this regulation, with the basis of ‘unnecessary measurement’ in refraining ISPs companies from manipulating the internet and telecommunications industry, as well as stifling investment in the sector. As mentioned by the Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian (also the fiancé of tennis star Serena Williams), net neutrality ensures the free market – not the big cable like AT&T and Verizon – as well as picks the winners and the losers.[viii]

The case portrays another story on how manipulated the internet sphere is, and that it has become a political battlefield. The problem is merely a tug of war between the Republicans and the Democrats on asserting power and dominance. A former Verizon Lawyer with Republicans’ supports, Mr. Pai was strongly accused of trying to wipe out the Democrats’ influence in the institution.[ix] He was also showing repeated lack of prove in pertaining his stance to repeal the previous regulation, but still maintains strong optimism due to the overwhelming Republican, the majority, presence backing him up in the commission. He insists that the telecommunication investment is severely affected by this decision, as major ISPs are reluctant to ‘participate’ in infusing investments and supports in the industry, but being the big players determining-slash-monopolizing the fate of the industry in the US. However, a Democrat senator recently questioned his credibility as there is no evident backing his argument on the stifling investment. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts stated that no registered ISPs has filed report on the negative backlashes resulting from the particular regulation on net neutrality.[x] Democrats in Congress are also saying that they are ‘doing everything they can’ for net neutrality in order for a guaranteed freedom of the internet.[xi] FCC Commissioner, Mignon Clyburn, the only Democrat in the commission, kept the hope alive (but low) by underlining the pursuit of making the internet neutral, as the fundamental principle of the American democracy.[xii]

On the other side of the battlefield, all the supports for net neutrality won’t seem to matter to FCC, as the Republican-majority FCC is the only determining body, and the chance of them actually taking their words back is slim.[xiii] Even an effort to pass a new net neutrality regulation through congress will face tougher perils, as ISPs are more powerful in the congress with dominant ISPs lobbyists playing behind the curtains.[xiv]^,[xv] The final verdict will be revealed after the public comments session is closed by mid-August.[xvi]

From this point, there seems to be no immediate way out to defend net neutrality, at least for now. The chance of changing the mind of Ajit Pai, and even the Congress, is evidently slim, and this is sad. The sadder thing is the fact that this may affect the entire world, as major internet companies – who will be greatly affected by the decision to repeal net neutrality regulations – are Americans with global users. The issue has indeed become ‘too politicized’, so we cannot fully rely on the Democrats’ promise to ‘do everything they can’ as well. A murkier future of the internet is, unfortunately, unforsaken. As this is inevitable, we can only anticipate the worst possible outcomes of the internet without neutrality. The every predicted negative effects coming to the internet in the near future may be the only way to ‘slap’ and make the government realize that net neutrality is not negotiable. On the other hand, for Indonesia, the issue might not be a high-level issue debated heavily by the politicians. With the current state of nationalism, Indonesia may depart from different perspective and go against net neutrality in the name of morality and national values. However, as the issue is edging closer with deeper internet penetration and more appearances of internet-related issues (hoax and online radicalism, for instance), we shall start considering the possible direction of our net neutrality. Wiser decision has to be surely taken, avoiding one-sided – and unnecessary – interests conflict reflected from our American counterparts. So, for now, just buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

Picture: Pexels

[i] Neal, H. (2017). Net Neutrality at Risk. [Online] Record Searchlight. Available at: http://www.redding.com/story/money/business/2017/07/19/net-neutrality-risk/491837001/. [Accessed 19 July 2017].

[ii] Romano, A. (2017). Today’s Net Neutrality Protest is A Last Stand in A Fight That Could Change the Internet. [Online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/7/12/15952166/net-neutrality-protest-2017-battle-for-net-fcc-changes. [Accessed 19 July 2017].

[iii] Gustin, S. (2017). After Net Neutrality ‘Day of Action,’ Internet Activists Face a Tough Fight Ahead. [Online] Motherboard. Available at: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/nev49d/after-net-neutrality-day-of-action-internet-activists-face-a-tough-fight-ahead. [Accessed 20 July 2017].

[iv] Snider, M. (2017). Record 9 million comments flood FCC on net neutrality. [Online] USA Today. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/07/19/record-9-million-comments-flood-fcc-net-neutrality/488042001/. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[v] Wu, T. (2002). A Proposal for Network Neutrality. [PDF] Available at: <http://www.timwu.org/OriginalNNProposal.pdf>

[vi] Vox Card. What is Net Neutrality? [Online]. Available at: https://www.vox.com/cards/network-neutrality/whats-network-neutrality. [Accessed 20 July 2017].

[vii] Szoka, B. (2017). How Net-Neutrality Supporters Would Let Trump Control the Internet. [Online] The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-net-neutrality-advocates-would-let-trump-control-the-internet/2017/07/19/52998b58-6bc2-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?utm_term=.3b516388377e. [Accessed 20 July 2017].

[viii] Ohanian, A. (2017). We Need Your Voice As We Continue The fight for Net Neutrality. [Online] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/6mtgtp/we_need_your_voice_as_we_continue_the_fight_for/. [Accessed 20 July 2017].

[ix] Moon, A., and Shepardson, D. (2017). Tech firms protest proposed changes to US net neutrality rules. [Online] Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fcc-neutrality-idUSKBN19X268. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[x] Brodkin, J. (2017). Senoator challenges Ajit Pai over evidence for net neutrality repeal. [Online] Arstechnica. Available at: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/senator-challenges-ajit-pai-over-evidence-for-net-neutrality-repeal/. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xi] Romm, T. (2017). Democrats in Congress are promising to do everything they can to stop the FCC from gutting net neutrality. [Onilne] Recode. Available  at: https://www.recode.net/2017/7/12/15958990/democrats-republicans-net-neutrality-day-of-action-congress-fcc-pai. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xii] Moon, A., and Shepardson, D. (2017). Tech firms protest proposed changes to US net neutrality rules. [Online] Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fcc-neutrality-idUSKBN19X268. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xiii] Johnson, T. (2017). Net Nueutrality ‘Day of Action’: Will It Make a Difference? [Online] Variety. Available at; http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/net-neutrality-fcc-google-1202494322/. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xiv] Romano, A. (2017). Net Neutrality is dying with a whimper. [Online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/7/19/15971344/2017-net-neutrality-protest-fcc-repeal. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xv] Sottek, T.C. (2017). The 265 members of Congress who sold you out to ISPs, and how much it cost to buy them. [Online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/29/15100620/congress-fcc-isp-web-browsing-privacy-fire-sale. [Accessed 21 July 2017].

[xvi] Kastrenakes, J. (2017). FCC votes to begin overturning net neutrality. [Online] The Verge. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/18/15657916/fcc-kill-net-neutrality-proposal-vote-passes. [Accessed 21 July 2017].