On the cusp of 2018, the REM song, “It’s the End of the World as We Know It,” comes to mind.
The world is not ending, but the world as we know it sure is, especially the world of the Internet. How so?
FCC Ends Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission voted in early December to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, which required Internet service providers to offer equal access to all web content, without charging consumers for higher-quality delivery or giving preferential treatment to certain websites.
Online Caste System?
Doing away with net neutrality rules provides opportunity for Internet providers to charge for bandwidth use based on content accessed. Translation, the more you can afford to pay, the more bandwidth and therefore more resources that will available to you. So the wealthier among us may well enjoy the full flavor of the Internet’s offerings, and the wealthiest companies will be able to cater to those tastes.
As for the rest of us, “Let them eat cake,” Marie Antoinette famously exclaimed.
This is alarmist, I admit. Time will tell. But you can bet rights activists, hackers, and the younger generation won’t take these controls on open Internet access lying down.
From a larger vantage point one could argue, as Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times has, that net neutrality won’t change the Internet much, because it’s already been dying a slow death. Per Manjoo, “American Internet companies — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — “control much of the online infrastructure, from app stores to operating systems to cloud storage to nearly all of the online ad business.”
You Can Take Action
If you are concerned about keeping the Internet open and equally accessible by all, please consider contacting your congressional representatives, Tulsi Gabbard and Mazie Hirono. As of the date this article was written, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to undo the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules.
Giving is Good
Also if you’re feeling generous - in the spirit of the season - please consider donating to organizations which fight for an open Internet: Mozilla and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
https://donate.mozilla.org/en-US/
https://supporters.eff.org/donate/
As this is a security and privacy blog, I will note one privacy concern going forward could be that Internet consumers will be cajoled to give up more personal information in order to get better Internet bandwidth deals.
Happy New Year!
Sam
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