As of February 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reclassified broadband as a common carrier under Title II of the Communications Act. It was 2 months later that the ‘Net Neutrality’ regulations were finalised. This act ensured the equal treatment of data across all Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
In May of 2017, President Trump’s FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai was given the greenlight in his plan to end net neutrality. His reasoning for doing so is to create a ‘pro-competitive’ marketplace which will drive ISPs to innovate the current infrastructure of the internet to supposedly better customer services.
Notwithstanding Pai’s intentions, consumers have responded to the proposed change in disagreement. Petitions accumulating over 21 million pro-net neutrality signatures and comments have flooded the internet in an appeal to the FCC to reconsider Pai’s motion. Countering this the FCC also received an apparent 22 million comments in support of the proposal. Shortly after that an independent analyst company, Gravwell found that only 17.4% were unique entries and that the remaining comments were bot generated. This was considered to be an act of deception against the American people and only further created doubt in the publics minds about the future of the internet.
Assuming the worst and net neutrality is dissolved, what does the outlook of the internet look like? With the status reduced to Title I, there would be little protection against ISP’s manipulation of data and its transmission. The content that currently accessed freely could be blocked, similarly download rates being restricted by a payment-prioritization business model. What was once an open access network would become a capitalistic system in which the wealthier members of society would have higher tier access than the lesser financially able.
The effects that the dismantled internet regulation would have on such a data reliant society would be vastly consequential. The Obama administration acted in support of an open and neutral resource as it recognised it as a utility the people relied upon much like electricity, gas or water. However, within his first year in office, President Trump will be responsible for facilitating the collapse of one of America’s most crucial pieces of infrastructure despite having an overwhelming sense of resistance during its propositional stage.
Despite being a current affair within the United States of America, the outcome will set a precedent for countries to come. If seen as beneficial to an unstable government, it could be used to manipulate its people’s views on issues presented in the media. Then arguably the loss of net neutrality could be considered the first step towards a country’s departure towards a more heavily right-wing state, like a dictatorship. While this concept may be somewhat severe it lends itself to the imagery of a dystopian future, resembling an Orwellian Ministry of Truth.
Ultimately the future of the internet will be determined on the events taking place this winter. The people’s voice has sounded strongly against the movement, however the governing bodies responsible may be overruling this outcry for individualistic means.
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