Net neutrality may sound like a topic that is as exciting as spending a sunny Saturday watching C-SPAN. Riveting. However, unlike C-SPAN, a neutral net is a huge part of things that we actually do spend our Saturdays doing: Netflix, streaming music and catching Pokémon.
Essentially, having net neutrality means the internet is a neutral playing field between internet service providers and consumers. One example of a company taking advantage of loose net neutrality laws recently is T-Mobile letting Pokémon Go users play without using any data. Sound like a no-lose scenario right? Well a lack of regulation is a slippery slope.
John Oliver recently described an instance of a “mob shakedown” of Netflix by Comcast. Basically, Comcast slowed Netflix’s streaming speed down by up to 40 percent until Netflix paid Comcast to, “connect directly to its servers.” Once Netflix paid Comcast an undisclosed (e.g. exorbitant) amount of money, Netflix’s streaming speed magically returned to normal.
Net neutrality should be at the forefront of our generation’s attention. We look at the internet and see freedom. We see the freedom to access information and content with never before seen ease. Corporations look at the internet and see dollar signs. Companies like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Comcast are always thinking of new ways to use the internet to their advantage. Currently, ISPs can see your browsing history to give you ads tailored to your browsing patterns, thus making more money. The Federal Communications Commission is trying to pass legislation that would hamper these practices.
Even the “positive” aspects of companies buying into the internet, like the T-Mobile and Pokémon Go example earlier, have their downsides. Say you only have two gigabytes left for the month. It is going to be hard to play other games on your phone when you can play Pokémon for free. That’s all fun and everything, but imagine being the developer of a different game. It isn’t T-Mobile’s place to influence what games should be played and which ones shouldn’t, even if PoGO is the more fun game … which it probably is. But the point is, T-Mobile is inadvertently discouraging competition, which is always hurtful to a free market. Internet service providers should not have the power to influence the market like this.
You may be wondering what our presidential candidates stances are on this subject. Not to worry. I have you covered. Donald Trump has not really commented on net neutrality in a coherent fashion. Trump tweeted, “Obama’s attack on the Internet is another top down power grab. Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target the conservative media.”
The Fairness Doctrine was passed in the 1940’s and stated that newscasters had to report the news in a fair, balanced manner. This was repealed in 1987 and has little to do with net neutrality. Hillary Clinton is for net neutrality, but she also recognizes that too much regulation can also be detrimental to competition. Clinton favors fighting broadband monopolies that are responsible for slow, expensive bandwidth. Gary Johnson is, as you may expect, against government regulation of the internet. He believes that regulation would lead to higher prices and less competition, but it has already been demonstrated that the opposite would happen.
A lack of regulation on the internet deters economic competition and is responsible for why the United States has a slower average internet connection speed than countries such as Romania and the Czech Republic.
