Nixing neutrality

The Internet has been relatively unregulated since its inception, but that could now change after a federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission ruling of net neutrality Jan. 14. Now paying different prices for different Internet services is a distinct possibility.

net neutrality04333Net neutrality intends to ensure all websites are treated the same by Internet service providers (ISPs) — namely priced the same and given the same bandwidth priority. This includes those that stream content and those that have higher traffic, like Facebook, Netflix, YouTube or Wikipedia.

“Netflix is the single biggest user of internet bandwidth in the world right now,” said Dan Ewart, chief information officer and executive director of Information Technology Services at the University of Idaho. “You can see why large corporations don’t like net neutrality.”

Net neutrality aims to make sure ISPs treat the Internet the same as any other utility, like electricity. For example: though electricity is paid for, there is no regulation on what it is used for.

The net neutrality rule was introduced by the FCC in 2010. Those in favor say net neutrality keeps big corporations from having too much power. Those against net neutrality think businesses — like Time Warner, Comcast or AT&T — should be able to do what they want with the service they provide, without government regulation.

In its Open Internet Guide, the FCC says one of the most important features on the Internet is its openness.

“It uses free, publicly available standards that anyone can access and build to, and it treats all traffic that flows across the network in roughly the same way,” according to the guide. “The ‘Open Internet’ is the Internet as we know it, a level playing field where consumers can make their own choices about what applications and services to use, and where consumers are free to decide what content they want to access, create, or share with other.”

While the principle of a free Internet is widely accepted, it’s the idea that the government can tell a business how to run that worries some people.

Joe Oppegaard, chief technical officer at Montana Banana — a web and app development and design company — said although he believes in the principles of net neutrality, the slippery slope comes from private companies being regulated by the government.

“If there is a market for having a totally ‘net neutral’ ISP, then that will pop up,” Oppegaard said. “If people value that, they’ll start using that service over someone like Time Warner. It’s optional.”

The upcoming reactions to the net neutrality ruling are hard to project. People will always find a way to get around it, Ewart said.  He said it could spark a whole new industry.

“The problem is those ways to get around it would have some cost or difficulty associated with it, which goes back to the whole point of people not having the access that they have right now,” Ewart said. “Then they’re finding work-arounds, or paying more, or it’s illegal.”

From a university perspective, Ewart said, higher education is greatly in favor of net neutrality.

“The Internet was formed to equalize communication across the world,” Ewart said. “We feel this is going to take that away. People will not have access to the same content anymore.”

Ewart said the socio-economic impacts will create challenges to education, be it K-12 education or higher education.

“It regulates in a way that creates class distinctions,” Ewart said. “It’s an unknown frontier right now. I just think it sets a really bad precedent.”

While it may have once been assumed that Internet issues like this were reserved for the tech-savvy and internet dwelling, a petition delivered to the FCC by Free Press to reinstate net neutrality gained 1 million signatures in just two weeks.

The regulation of Internet access opens up an issue of security too, Ewart said.

“It means they’re looking at everybody’s traffic,” Ewart said. “That opens up a whole new can of worms.”

Democrats in the House of Representatives proposed a new bill Feb. 3: The Open Internet Preservation Act. If passed, the legislation would essentially reverse the Jan. 14 ruling against net neutrality.

The market narrows

On Feb. 10 and 11, Comcast hashed out the final details and acquired Time Warner Cable — not even a year after purchasing NBCUniversal, Comcast bought Time Warner for $45 billion.

With this $45 billion, Comcast effectively became the largest Internet provider in the U.S.

The merger would will reduce the competition in the ISP industry. Comcast became a content provider as well as a cable and broadband provider after it bought NBCUniversal in 2011.

Comcast has agreed to abide by the principle of net neutrality, as a condition of its purchase of NBCUniversal. The rules imposed by the FCC as a condition of the merger will last until 2017, and Time Warner is now subject to the same terms since they are now one with Comcast.

James McQuivey, a digital media analyst with Forrester Research, said that as Comcast faces more intense scrutiny, he doubts they would “throttle” or slow online streaming from websites like Netflix —  despite the fact that Comcast also provides a streaming service, Xfinity Stream Pix.

Comcast said the merger would benefit consumers, and regardless of an Internet user’s feelings toward net neutrality, the issue is something to keep tabs on in the upcoming months.

Alycia Rock 

can be reached at 

[email protected]

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