“Today is a red-letter day,” remarked FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, following the FCC’s 3-2 passing vote of the Open Internet Order, which re-classifies the internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, ensuring its Internet Service Providers are now treated as carriers and the internet itself is classified as a public utility.
Putting it quite simply, Net Neutrality, and the Internet at large, won a major victory in the fight to keep information free. For those of you who were not around the last time I covered Net Neutrality, or who may just be in the dark as to what it meant to begin with, Net Neutrality was the term used for policies and regulations proposed to keep cable companies, the largest internet service providers in the united states, from creating a sort of ‘preferred customer’ system, taxing both customers and websites themselves in return for higher speeds. Net Neutrality is meant to ensure that the internet remains the land of free information that it currently is.
After hearing a record outpouring from the public on the subject of Net Neutrality, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable companies in Washington D.C., seems to have changed his stance on the subject as a whole. Where once he saw the benefit in what the cable companies want, he’s now helped pass a policy that he himself says ensures “that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet.”
This decision is not without it’s dissent, though opposition seems to come from a place that fundamentally misunderstands what Net Neutrality is. Ted Cruz took Thursday’s decision as a chance to reiterate his feelings that “Net Neutrality is Obamacare for the internet.” And Broadband For America, a group to which many internet service providers belong, came out with a statement from their co-chairs saying, “The FCC’s decision to impose obsolete telephone-era regulations on the high-speed Internet is one giant step backwards for America’s broadband networks and everyone who depends upon them. These ‘Title II’ rules go far beyond protecting the Open Internet, launching a costly and destructive era of government micromanagement that will discourage private investment in new networks and slow down the breakneck innovation that is the soul of the Internet today.”
This is, of course, not the case. The only outcry we are hearing, really, comes from people with ties to cable companies. Internet corporations, founders of websites and startups such as Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Youtube, Yahoo, Hulu, Wikipedia, Buzzfeed, and Google have all come out in universal support of Net Neutrality. These are companies that started at the bottom and worked their way up from absolutely nothing. They know the benefits of Net Neutrality, and the drawbacks. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, knows them especially well. His company supplanted MySpace, way back in the ancient days of 2006/2007. Before that, MySpace replaced Friendster. So Mark Zuckerberg knows there is always the chance that someone will come along with something better, and Facebook would fade into obscurity. Yet, he’s still in favor of an open internet.
This is an unprecedented victory in the fight for free speech, and empirical proof that the internet can act as a force for change. The fight isn’t over, as Congress has already been asked to intervene, but the issue of Net Neutrality remains a non-partisan issue. Across the internet proper, Republicans speaking out against Net Neutrality are losing the ears of their constituents, simply because their constituents understand Net Neutrality better than they do.
So congratulations, everyone. The biggest part of the fight for Net Neutrality, and that most important victory, is ours.
An Unexpected Victory
Dane La Born
“Today is a red-letter day,” remarked FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, following the FCC’s 3-2 passing vote of the Open Internet Order, which re-classifies the internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, ensuring its Internet Service Providers are now treated as carriers and the internet itself is classified as a public utility.
Putting it quite simply, Net Neutrality, and the Internet at large, won a major victory in the fight to keep information free. For those of you who were not around the last time I covered Net Neutrality, or who may just be in the dark as to what it meant to begin with, Net Neutrality was the term used for policies and regulations proposed to keep cable companies, the largest internet service providers in the united states, from creating a sort of ‘preferred customer’ system, taxing both customers and websites themselves in return for higher speeds. Net Neutrality is meant to ensure that the internet remains the land of free information that it currently is.
After hearing a record outpouring from the public on the subject of Net Neutrality, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the cable companies in Washington D.C., seems to have changed his stance on the subject as a whole. Where once he saw the benefit in what the cable companies want, he’s now helped pass a policy that he himself says ensures “that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet.”
This decision is not without it’s dissent, though opposition seems to come from a place that fundamentally misunderstands what Net Neutrality is. Ted Cruz took Thursday’s decision as a chance to reiterate his feelings that “Net Neutrality is Obamacare for the internet.” And Broadband For America, a group to which many internet service providers belong, came out with a statement from their co-chairs saying, “The FCC’s decision to impose obsolete telephone-era regulations on the high-speed Internet is one giant step backwards for America’s broadband networks and everyone who depends upon them. These ‘Title II’ rules go far beyond protecting the Open Internet, launching a costly and destructive era of government micromanagement that will discourage private investment in new networks and slow down the breakneck innovation that is the soul of the Internet today.”
This is, of course, not the case. The only outcry we are hearing, really, comes from people with ties to cable companies. Internet corporations, founders of websites and startups such as Facebook, Netflix, Twitter, Youtube, Yahoo, Hulu, Wikipedia, Buzzfeed, and Google have all come out in universal support of Net Neutrality. These are companies that started at the bottom and worked their way up from absolutely nothing. They know the benefits of Net Neutrality, and the drawbacks. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, knows them especially well. His company supplanted MySpace, way back in the ancient days of 2006/2007. Before that, MySpace replaced Friendster. So Mark Zuckerberg knows there is always the chance that someone will come along with something better, and Facebook would fade into obscurity. Yet, he’s still in favor of an open internet.
This is an unprecedented victory in the fight for free speech, and empirical proof that the internet can act as a force for change. The fight isn’t over, as Congress has already been asked to intervene, but the issue of Net Neutrality remains a non-partisan issue. Across the internet proper, Republicans speaking out against Net Neutrality are losing the ears of their constituents, simply because their constituents understand Net Neutrality better than they do.
So congratulations, everyone. The biggest part of the fight for Net Neutrality, and that most important victory, is ours.