Net Neutrality

“All Data Created Equal, A Persuasive Research Paper on Net Neutrality”
By: Forrest M.
June 5th, 2009

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The Internet has been one of the most important tools in many peoples lives. With the Internet people are able to research information, look at pictures of distant relatives' new baby, watch a video about how to change a tire, buy goods and services from your house, and even start a business that offers all of the above. The Internet is undoubtedly the greatest invention since the airplane or the computer itself. It allows the world to communicate, share ideas, collaborate, and break down cultural barriers. Yet, in the last few years, Internet Service Providers (ISP) are trying to control the Internet and how it is used. They are monopolistic giants that are doing whatever it takes to be able to control the Internet. They use tactics such as filtering, bandwidth caps, and low data speeds with high prices, to make more money instead of improving the service they provide for the customers. The ISP are trying to become gatekeepers of the Internet. They have realized too late what the value of the Internet is and are trying to get the most money out of the necessity and trying to make it into a commodity. I believe that Net Neutrality should be accepted worldwide, because if only a handful of companies control the Internet, it will discourage or eliminate innovation, competition, communication, cultural growth, and a free market.

The Wild West

Nineteen-ninety-eight was a big year for the Internet. The massive influx of people connecting to the Internet on a 12k modem for the first time. Prior to 1998, the Internet was known as the Arpanet. Developed by the U.S. Department of Defense during the Cold War. Then in the late 1970's it was used by scientist and universities, to share data, and research with other scientists. Then, by the early to mid 1990's, the “Nerds” and “Geeks” were the first average consumers to use it. Then by 1998 the whole world was logging on. All it took was a phone chord, a modem, and a lot of patience. Commonly known as the “Dot Com Boom,” the large adaptation of the Internet by companies and new companies starting services and goods that could be sold or offered over the Internet sprang up and competed for their piece of the Internet pie. By 2003, many telecommunication companies, TelCos, began to offer higher data speeds to those who wanted it. These U.S. companies include Comcast, Timer Warner Cable - main service providers for the SE Wisconsin area, AT&T, Charter Communications, and many more.
According to Internetworldstats.com, on March 31st, 2009, 74.4% of Americans use the Internet. Of that percentage, the U.S. makes up 14.2% of the total Internet users in the world, and ranking second to China, making up 18.7%.
Many million-dollar companies and even small entrepreneurs, depend on the Internet. Companies such as Amazon, Google, YouTube, and Twitter, to name a few, are examples of Internet dependent companies. The amount of goods consumers are buying on the Internet is increasing at an exponential rate. “It's a rapidly growing market. According to the Online Reporter, the average consumer spent more than $100 on online content last year, resulting in a $2 billion market and a 15 percent growth from 2004. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that 81 percent of broadband users purchase products online.” (Whitmore, B. quoted by Chandler, C. 2006). But the ISPs are trying to make the Internet a “Pay-to-Play” business model that will affect companies and consumers alike.

The Men in Suits Want Control

Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen called Net-Neutrality regulations “The worst new idea in Washington. This is a vigorously competitive market place that is working to benefit the consumers. There is no need for laws and regulations” (quoted by Hill, M. 2006). This statement would be true, if the ISPs considered filtering, blocking, throttling, and bandwidth caps of the consumer's data and other companies services, “fair and competitive.” Many ISPs claim that it is to help battle Internet piracy.
In February 2008, AT&T announced that there are talks about monitoring and storing Internet traffic information, in order to join the battle against music and video thievery. (Barker, T. 2008) “It’s sort of like FedEx looking in every single box to see if any contain drugs.”(Scott, B. quoted by Barker, T. 2008). But in this case, it’s for music, video, and any other copyrighted content.
“In the 1990's, telecommunications companies spent millions of dollars persuading Congress to pass the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA], which eliminated any responsibility they had for the content carried over their networks. In other words, if two friends plotted murder through e-mail, nobody can sue Charter Communications for not reporting it to the authorities.” (Barker, T. 2008). However, the actions of many ISPs, monitoring traffic and tampering with the flow of the traffic, is a clear violation of the DMCA. Monitoring this traffic is no better than federal agents wire tapping without a court subpoena. What is the major concern is that they are they really just looking at the data for alleged piracy, or they are looking at our private data, such as banking, credit cards, and family photos sent via email. Not to mention the fact that, they may also be monitoring legal content and calling it illegal content, in order to block or filter out the legal channels so that there is no competition with the content they provide. By monitoring the traffic and the information sent, the ISPs are surrendering their immunity set under the DMCA, the Act they lobbied through congress.
The ISPs are trying more and more to push Congress to allow them to put whatever restrictions they want on the Internet service they provide. There is two ways the ISPs do this: playing favorites with certain sites and tier pricing. The ISPs want to charge web sites and web users additional fees for access to a “preferred service” tier, an Internet “fast lane” offering faster speed (Chandler, C. 2006). However, this plan does not, as stated earlier by Comcast Executive David Cohen, benefit the consumers or companies that use the Internet.
Playing favorites, or a “Pay-to-Play” system would be a severe blow to the many companies that use the Internet. “Alex Fraser, director of marketing at OR-live.com, a web site that offers videos of surgeries to educate patients and doctors, fears high prices, too.”(Hill, M. 2006). Fraser says that, “our health content is available completely free of charge, and this is where we have a significant concern that the access is going to be limited to and ultimately will affect people's lives.” What the ISPs are doing are trying to destroy the free market that the Internet was built on. In order to control the pipe that the data is sent over, the ISPs want to create tier pricing, similar to that of a cell phone company's plan. The ISPs want to make a business model for the Internet so that a user buy a set amount of bandwidth a month, allowing the ISPs to increase the price, but have exorbitant fee that the user pays for going over. This tier pricing is just an excuse for them to make more money and not have to expand and improve their infrastructure. “The theory is that the big companies that are established will be able to afford these charges and get full utilization of the pipes, and smaller emerging companies won't be able to...The Bell companies had nothing to do with the creation of the Internet...but now, at this late date, they want to come in and to create these bottleneck control points that allow them to extract Internet taxes, Internet fees from companies and individuals who have been using the Internet for a generation.” Rep. Edward Markey, D-mass., (quoted by Chandler, C. 2006). Many ISPs are saying that they are restricting the flow of data form certain channels such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) during peek hours of usage to help distribute an even amount of bandwidth for all their customers. However this would not be an issue if the ISPs would improve their infrastructure - the hardware and wires needed to carry this information, yet they decide not to and use vague statements about the cost of improving their infrastructure and make claims that is Net Neutrality were passed, then they would not have the money need to improve their infrastructure. They want to become the gatekeepers. But what the real fear is what the ISPs do with that control over the content sent over the Internet.

Ye Who Controls Spice, Controls Dune

To go back to monitoring and filtering/blocking traffic on the Internet, this is what scares most people. In September 2007 “Verizon Wireless refused to carry text messages from an abortion rights group.” (Barket, T. 2008) Even though after much outcry, the company did reverse the out of date policy. However, this shows that these companies are watching, and what gives them the right to restrict our freedom of speech. Whether it’s a video upload to YouTube calling for the rights of Gay Marriage or an email between friends sharing their opinions about an election. It’s not just a matter of being able to have unrestricted Internet access, it a matter of freedom of speech. The Internet is a tool for communication with the world, and Internet service providers are acting as though they have the right to control said information. Net Neutrality is the equal treatment of all information, in the form of what is known as packets, where none of the packets can be favored by anyone but the end users. This means, to put it simply, that all packets are created equal. If the ISPs get the control they want, then they become censurers. They could filter out content that the ISP may not like. “The battle attracted polar opposites to each other. The Christian Coalition and the National Rifle Association, concerned that a telecommunications provider that didn't like their politics could stifle them, have joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union and MoveOn.org, to argue for Net Neutrality.” (Hill, M. 2006). This restriction also impacts culture. The sharing of many cultures though out the Internet helps benefits society in general by bringing more arts and entertainment to the masses. As well as breaking down culture barriers and opening up communication. Not only is it a matter of freedom of speech, it's also about creating a free market. “Neutrality advocates point out the example of the Internet provider Madison River blocking competitor Vonage as evidence of a real problem.” (Hill, M. 2006) They want to eliminate any competition that may interfere with them, weather it be phone, video, or music. That makes it hard to believe what ISPs will block, this year it is P2P, next year it could be Youtube, and without Net Neutrality, there is nothing to stop them.
However, the times are changing. President Barack Obama, has vowed to not take a backseat in the Net Neutrality debate. “Several new members of Congress pledged their allegiance to Net Neutrality while getting elected. They all agree that the Internet should remain free and open to all users — that we should be able to visit any Web content without network operators or others blocking, impairing or degrading our connection.” (Karr, T. 2008). This is scaring the ISPs and the Telecommunications companies. Recently, they have lobbied for President Obama to ignore the issue. He's saying no.
Net Neutrality is like an open field, everyone is able to set up shop, explore and consume that information and content. Net Neutrality doesn't mean a lawless Internet, it means a free cultural and economic Internet. The TelCos are like the mobsters, saying that certain places can't be seen or visited, or choosing the content that venue serves. The rules shouldn't be made and enforced by the few wealthy companies and special interest groups. Now, go to the nearest virtual public soap box on the Internet, and express yourself. Share your opinions, no one should be allowed to stop you. Make a video of you and your friends talking about rights for a group of people and upload it to any site you want, and download a song. The Internet is just like the real world, it shouldn't have it's own special rules.

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Bibliography

Chandler, C. (2006, July 6). Net neutrality' supporters say telecoms getting greedy. Ventura County Star (CA), Retrieved May 1, 2009, from Newspaper Source database.

Barker, T. (2008, February 14). AT&T's idea to monitor Net creates a web of suspicion. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), Retrieved May 1, 2009, from Newspaper Source database.

Hill, M. (2006, June 19). With billions at stake, corporate giants square off on law to ensure net neutrality.: Tangled web of fear, greed and Internet's fate. Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA), Retrieved May 1, 2009, from Newspaper Source database.

Kim, R. (2008, April 18). Net neutrality debate leads to Stanford. San Francisco Chronicle (10/1/2007 to present), Retrieved May 1, 2009, from Newspaper Source database.

Miniwatts Marketing Group, (March 31, 2009). Internet world stats. Retrieved may 29, 2009, from Internet World Stats Web site: http://www.Internetworldstats.com/top20.htm

Karr, Tim (May 29th, 2009). Obama: Firmly Committed to Net Neutrality. Retrieved June 7, 2009, from Save the Internet Web site: http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/09/05/29/obama-firmly-committed-net-neutrality

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“All Data Created Equal, A Persuasive Research Paper on Net Neutrality.” by Forrest M. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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Note from the Author

This research paper was written in the spring of 2009 by Forrest M. for my High School, Senior year of English. This paper was written do to the unfair practices of Telecommunication Companies and their monopolistic behavior and unfair business practices.

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