' Net Neutrality: A Brief Overview Prior to FCC Vote on Feb. 26 | MTTLR

Net Neutrality: A Brief Overview Prior to FCC Vote on Feb. 26

Net neutrality is the concept that broadband network providers should be completely detached from the information that is sent over their networks. Some large internet providers want to get rid of net neutrality, which is the current state of affairs, and replace it with a prioritized internet that would create a series of “internet fast lanes” that would be available at a price premium over “internet slow lanes.” In very simple terms, this means that if one has the money, one will have a fast internet connection. If one does not have the money, one will have a relatively slow internet connection.

Removing net neutrality is rationalized by a number of different advocates supporting various agendas. The most obvious support comes from internet service provider companies who stand to profit in offering various internet packages to not only consumers who are visiting websites but also companies, businesses, and individuals who are running websites. Companies don’t often come right out and state that they are lobbying the government for a piece of legislation that will generate more profit for companies in that field, but instead come up with another, more altruistic rationalization. One example is Verizon stating that net neutrality harms disabled people and the access of visually-impaired people to faster internet access. Support also comes from a libertarian camp that wants to encourage deregulation and minimal government interference into free market capitalism. The third main support for removing net neutrality takes the form of national security and preventing access to sites with undesirable or dangerous content.

The poster child in the industry for net neutrality is Netflix. In 2014, major internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon were accused of throttling traffic to Netflix in a pseudo extortion scheme (i.e., Netflix must pay more money to Verizon or it will make traffic so slow for consumers of Netflix that they will be forced to move their business to a competitor’s service that isn’t being slowed down by Verizon). Netflix did pay for more bandwidth on Comcast and Verizon, but there has been evidence of Verizon throttling access to Netflix even after Netflix paid for more bandwidth. As a public service, Netflix published a short essay on their website detailing what is wrong with the concept of “internet fast lanes.” The essay highlighted that there are two fundamental problems with this approach to internet access: (1) it provides internet service providers with a “perverse incentive” to increase revenue by creating congested networks with slow access speeds; and (2) it gives internet service providers the power to choose who has access to which content on the internet by throttling access speeds to the point of rendering a certain website inaccessible due to extremely long load times.

In November 2014, President Obama showed his support for net neutrality by urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to enforce net neutrality on a basis of Title II of the Communications Act. President Obama reasoned that “our law has recognized that companies who connect to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access in and out of your home or business. […] [T]he same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information.” Some members of Congress, such as U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Greg Walden, view Title II as an inappropriate and unworkable solution. Others, such as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, favor internet regulation under FTC antitrust laws. One thing is certain; the majority of the republican constituency in Congress does not favor net neutrality.

No one knows what will happen at voting time on February 26th, but it certainly won’t go unnoticed. As of January 19th, 2015, the F.C.C. has already received four million comments on net neutrality. The internet touches every part of modern society, from the home to the office to politics; the F.C.C.’s decision will impact every American who comes in contact with the internet in some way.

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Liam O’Sullivan is an editor on the Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review, and a member of the University  Michigan Law School class of 2016.

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