Archive: Opinions

Some major ISPs (Internet Service Providers) cap bandwidth.  That means you pay extra (in some cases a LOT extra) if you use more than your allotment.  Some give you the service you paid for until you reach, say, 75% of your allotment and then they slow down your service.  Some, like Time Warner, don't throttle your service... at least for now.  But some, like Comcast, do.  It's a problem that what was an affordable, useful service may become unusable because some companies want to control what you get to access on the Internet.

The latest threat comes down from a federal appeals court ruling last week that overturned the FCC’s Open Internet Order that called for:

• Transparency. Broadband providers must disclose information regarding their network management practices, performance, and the commercial terms of their broadband services.
• No blocking. Fixed broadband providers (including DSL, cable, or fixed wireless providers including cell phone services) may not block lawful content, applications, services, or non-harmful devices. Mobile broadband providers may not block lawful websites, or applications that compete with their voice or video telephony services.
• No unreasonable discrimination. Fixed broadband providers may not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over a consumer’s broadband Internet access service. Unreasonable discrimination of network traffic could take the form of particular services or websites appearing slower or degraded in quality.

Overturning the Open Internet order opens the door for ISPs to block or slow down services to the point where they are not usable -- unless the owners of those services like Netflix or Youtube, for example -- pay a fee.  They may also steer users away from services that don't pay to those that do -- or to their own services.  The appeal was spearheaded by Verizon, which among other things is -- you got it -- an ISP.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told investors Wednesday that he will spearhead a revolt of Netflix customers if an ISP decides to charge Netflix for streaming on its Internet connection.

“Were this draconian scenario to unfold with some ISP, we would vigorously protest and encourage our members to demand the open Internet they are paying their ISP to deliver,” said Hastings in the letter.

Email made life easier and a lot better -- until the spammers invaded.  Now it's a quagmire and a time waster as you navigate hundreds of spam messages to pick out legitimate ones.  The World Wide Web made life easier and a lot better -- until malware producers started taking advantage of it to infect computers and steal personal information, money, and just about anything you can think of.  It cost almost all computer users as we all scrambled to purchase anti-virus software, and put firewalls on our system that block us from doing what we want, or at least don't allow us to do it without passing through annoying roadblocks.

But those things came from nasty people who don't have anything better to do than to make other people miserable.  This new threat comes from commercial entities that we are stuck with if we want to be connected at all.  Now commercial companies can block Internet traffic, give special treatment to some providers and blackball others.

The upshot is that Internet providers will be able to charge more for less service.  And services like Netflix may be forced to charge more in order to pay the ISPs.  In other words, it is not the companies that will suffer: you and I will.

When the Internet first exploded the defining piece of its culture revolved around freedom and unfettered access.  That remains one of the biggest draws for people using the Internet, and rightly so.  An open Internet has become vital to education, business... and pleasure.  Streaming video has become a viable competitor to cable TV.  Yeah, Time Warner and Comcast are major ISPs, so there could be a conflict of interest if they try to block services like Netflix or Hulu.  Or the television networks themselves, that offer the ability to watch full episodes of their shows online.

Some people fear the demise of Net Neutrality will even impact smaller Web sites who could be faced with the dilemma that if they don't pay up they won't be served on one ISP or another.  That will kill hundreds of thousands of small businesses that won't be able to afford another monthly payment.  To put it another way:  The New York Times will probably be able to afford to stay on the Internet.  The Lansing Star will not.

The impact won't be relegated only to Web site owners.  A whole industry of Web developers, designers and artists will surely be devastated.

Freedom on the Internet helped spawn the things -- spam, malware -- that threaten it.  But there is a lot to be said for the benefits of a freely accessed Internet, even if we have to cope with those things.  If that is not restored, the Internet as we know it will be dead.

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