Net Neutrality Does The Internet Need Saving

This blog, like millions of other types of content on the Internet, is not provided by a large corporation. However, the speed of your connection is likely the same as when you surf over to a big corporate website. This is because in the United States there is generally network neutrality meaning that Internet providers such as AT&T or Comcast dont decide which websites go faster or slower. Some broadband companies have proposed changing this by charging content providers extra in return for their content having access to the fast lane in the information superhighway.

For the past five years or so there has been a lot of lobbying to Congress on both sides of the issue. Advocates of network neutrality want the government to step in and make rules against Internet providers implementing such changes. The issue is becoming more in the public eye as well, as organizations like the Save the Internet coalition have banded people together to speak out in favor of net neutrality.

So what is the latest on this hot button legal issue? At the end of October, the FCC proposed formal rules about net neutrality. The proposal is now open for public comment until March, at which point the FCC will decide whether to take action. For neutrality supporters, it seems like this is a step in the right direction.

However, a group of highly influential legal scholars (including Larry Lessig and Tim Wu, who have both famously supported net neutrality) wrote in a letter to the Chairman of the FCC that ambiguity in the proposed language might leave loopholes for broadband providers to exploit in order to skirt the rules. For example, the proposal states that any rules would allow for reasonable network management; without a definition of reasonable, Internet providers could possibly hang their hats on their long-standing argument that net neutrality would impede their ability to protect against malware and congestion.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers are already coming out against the FCC stepping in. A House Rep from Tennessee has introduced a bill that would prohibit the FCC from needlessly imposing regulations on the Internet.

How could a resolution of this issue affect you? Whereas it is often characterized as coming down to a battle between, for example, AT&T and Google, any changes in the speed or structure of the Internet will affect every user. For organizations like Save the Internet, the warning seems to be: when it comes to net neutrality, you dont know what youve got til its gone.