As is so often the case with right-wing assaults on consumer protections, the repeal of net neutrality is being described as a solution to a problem that government has created; as Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai puts it, “Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet.” But the truth is that without government regulation, massive telecommunications companies will be able to gouge consumers, stiff-arm competitors, and stifle free speech in pursuit of their own oligopolistic profits. The “government intervention” bemoaned by an AT&T vice president is actually the government’s insistence on equal access — that is, the government’s prevention of malign corporate intervention that would squeeze consumers and upstart competitors, and subordinate the free flow of ideas and information to the profit-seeking of communications giants.
Here’s how I think of the primary issue at play: right now, the internet is like a giant bazaar in which, as big as it is, every company and internet site gets a front-row location. If I want to read an obscure political blog, my access to that site can’t be given a slower connection than if I were trying to visit, say, CNN. Without the net neutrality rules, that obscure political blog could be given a back row seat. Of course, providers could ask both CNN and that blog to pony up money to make sure people are still routed to their sites at the old speeds — but guess which of the two news sites will be able to afford it, and which will become handicapped by its lack of financial resources? In this, repeal of net neutrality is a grotesque assertion of the privileges of giant corporations over individuals and small businesses.
The pending loss of net neutrality is one of the biggest crises our country is currently facing, and that’s saying a lot (check out this article at The Nation for some righteous fire and brimstone on this point). We can safely say that there is absolutely no broad public support for this change. It's all about fucking over the consumer; but whether by accident or design, it’s also a frontal assault on the free exchange of information, aka the lifeblood of our democracy. It’s telling that along with this change, the FCC has just announced a plan to get rid of the limitation on a single corporation controlling TV broadcasts that reach more than 39% of American homes — a rule that will be used by ultra-conservative Sinclair Broadcasting to beam its propaganda into millions more American households. Dominated by Trump backers, the FCC has abandoned any pretense of serving the American people.
The overarching reality is that the internet is a public good. In fact, the existing net neutrality rules involve the FCC’s determination that broadband internet is an essential public utility, which is indeed how millions upon millions of Americans experience their daily internet access. Our tax dollars built the internet; it's highway robbery when big companies want to take it from us, and then charge us even more to use what's rightfully ours. It’s time to hit the phones and let your representatives know we’re not going to stand for this giveaway to powerful telecommunications companies.
