More Consideration to Regulating the Internet

Trump tweeted on August 28, 2018 “’Trump News’ shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican and Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of...”  I thought to myself that’s what you get in the age of no net neutrality.  From the beginning of Trump’s presidency, he surrounded himself with staff members who opposed net neutrality including his pick for the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Ajit Pai.  Trump knew Mr. Pai’s first piece agenda on the FCC board would be to propose vacating net neutrality laws and that’s exactly what he did. This policy that was not a vote in congress where people could have had some input ended net neutrality and any possibility of treating the internet as a public utility with government oversight to assure fair practices for the consumer which Trump happens is the biggest customers of all.

Net Neutrality a term the media extensively reports on has no agreeable definition and at best confuses us.  We all interact on the infinite internet yet we know little about how it works.  Toss in net neutrality into the internet equation and I for one am overwhelmed. Several people I know in Thailand expressed a higher concern to the end of net neutrality than international human rights, making me rethink my priorities. I always thought internet search engines and other internet services already rigged our access by entities paying for preferential treatment and believed this kind of treatment would multiple when net neutrality ended.  But Net Neutrality is more complicated than search engines.

Eliminating gatekeepers gives preferential treatment to any entity changing what internet sites and information you can or can’t access is the simplest way to describe net neutrality. I question whether we ever really had internet neutrality.   In 2007 TorrentFreak reported Comcast blocked customers from accessing ISP’s since 2005 which happened while the FCC was supposed to regulate net neutrality.  Privacy of people’s internet habits was front and center during the debate when net neutrality ended. While it’s true that eliminating net neutrality, FCC took the government out of the business of regulating and at the same time reports surfaced on how internet providers like Comcast, Facebook, and Google sold your internet practices for commercial gain and further developments exposed Facebook had been selling your information posted on their site to a number of political consulting firms during the 2016 election.

Facebook, Twitter and Google testify in front of congress on how they are better equipped to combat foreign interference as they grapple with censoring violence, fake facts, and other invasive content. This gives us a double message on the one hand the FCC just removed the government from regulating internet fairness to letting internet providers control and block content from their consumers but with the hearings on Capitol Hill one could conclude that the government still is in the business of regulating content.

Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Kavanaugh, wrote in his descending opinion in the United States Telecom case that came before him, The FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rule is one of the most consequential regulations ever issued by any executive or independent agency in the history of the United States. The rule transforms the Internet into government oversight prohibiting internet service providers from exercising editorial control over the content they transmit to consumers.  Why didn’t a policy of this magnitude go before congress to facilitate an open debate giving everyone a voice.

The end of net neutrality conforms with this opinion siding with Google, tweeter, Comcast, AT&T and all other internet providers giving them the right to discriminate and favor the internet traffic of those companies with whom they have pay-for-play arrangement like they have already been doing.  Free speech on the internet may become a thing of the past and censorship like what Trump tweeted about will become a standard. 

Free speech on sites such as Facebook kicked started many social movements such ones in Tunisia, Egypt and at home the women’s march are important for social change. Where do we draw the line?  If the government regulates the internet will it mean access for all with fair access and free speech or will it promote a pay-for-play standard.  We are all trying to get a handle on internet expectations and standards in an environment that grew up around us slowly seeping into our every day lives.  The decisions on internet regulation need far-reaching consideration and we the people need to have input into the solutions.