Net neutrality is officially dead in the United States, or at least that¡¯s the way it looks. In a 3-2 vote yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a policy to allow ISPs to block and throttle any traffic they feel like, offering faster packages for over-the-top (OTT) prices.
Image courtesy: Reuters
The policy, which repeals laws put into place during the Obama administration in 2015, also prevents the FCC from taking any action against service providers, at least unless a new law is passed.?
Basically, Americans are screwed, and they¡¯re not happy about it at all.
What this means is that yes, theoretically, ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T can charge a fee for each different website a person visits, instead of just a fee for the internet connection they supply. However, that¡¯s a terrible business plan that would likely fall down around their ears once people protest.
Instead, these companies could begin selling Internet packages the way you would a cable connection. That means paying a base amount for having access to basics like Gmail, Outlook etc, paying a higher amount for social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, and maybe an even higher amount for entertainment like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu. Yet, even that would be a little unwieldy to implement, so there¡¯s one other option that¡¯s more likely.
An ISP could instead offer certain websites at regular speeds or lower prices (either third parties that are paying premiums for the preference, or the ISP¡¯s own content brand subsidiaries) and throttle the bandwidth for competitors. It¡¯s a pretty subtle move, one that has been attempted in the US prior to 2015, and even Facebook was attempting in India when it announced Free Basics. And the only restriction in the new policy is the ISP¡¯s have to publicly state what they¡¯re doing.
As you can expect, there are quite a few parties lining up to file lawsuits against the FCC, including both activist groups and governnment officials. These will likely focus on the fact that, in the time period allotted for public comments on the decision, a huge chunk of those submitted in favour of repealing the laws were fake. Aside from that, the onus will be on the FCC to prove that enough has changed in two years to warrant the protections being repealed.
And in a side note, FCC chairman Ajit Pai has become the most hated Indian?in the entirety of the USA, and probably in other parts of the world as well. Don¡¯t believe me? Just Google him.
At the moment? Nothing. It¡¯s not that our own government will immediately follow suit just because the big boy in the West did. Don¡¯t get me wrong, if net neutrality isn¡¯t returned to the US, there likely will be effects felt here, they¡¯ll just be very subtle.?
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has backed net neutrality the entire way, even submitting an advisory report to the Department of Telecommunications?earlier in November. And it had a few things it wanted to carve into stone.?
One, that the Internet cannot be allowed to be manipulated by ISPs which may negatively impact Internet access by anyone in the country. It also suggested changes to existing telecom licenses to better eliminate the possibility of Internet service discrimination based on content. In addition, TRAI said things like blocking, slowing down or allowing preferential speed lanes to a piece of content is a strict no-no.
However, you have to remember that TRAI is a regulatory body. It makes recommendations, not policies. So all the efforts of TRAI can go right into the trash if the Department of Telecommunications decides to follow the US. And the scary thing is that they might. We currently don¡¯t have any laws for the issue, which is why net neutrality advocates are working so hard to get them put into place. That means we also have no legal precedent to challenge any flawed laws put into place, unless we look to the birthplace of the Internet, the US. And you know where they¡¯re at right now.
Another thing that could happen if the US doesn¡¯t get its act together, is a lack of competition. You see, this latest policy decision favours big conglomerates that can afford to pay ISPs higher premiums to get their services in front of people. That way, its the startups and fledgling companies that are left battling the odds, and that¡¯s a good way to go bankrupt early. For instance, if Netflix had it¡¯s bandwidth throttled during the early days of the company in favour of other services, you may not have ever had shows like ¡®13 Reasons Why¡¯, ¡®Narcos¡¯, and ¡®Black ¡®Mirror¡¯.
So when all those American Internet startups? aren¡¯t given the chance to grow, they never expand beyond the US. We don¡¯t see them spread to India, we don¡¯t get to experience more variety than what we already have. In essence all Internet ¡°imports¡± stagnate here, and all we¡¯ll have are local companies, and the existing big names. That¡¯s never good for competition, and you know a monopoly always leads to a controlled inflation.?
Still think this whole fiasco has no effect on you??