A lot has changed in the world since net neutrality was last in the public dialogue (and by that, we mean on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight in 2017). Massive wildfires swept through the US and Canada, huge mergers further consolidated the media landscape, and we collectively weathered a global pandemic.
The guidelines promoting a more egalitarian internet were eviscerated during the Trump administration, but Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel recently proposed reviving the rules that treat broadband as an essential service—on the same level as water or electricity—and mandate that ISPs can’t discriminate against or interfere with how content is transmitted.
“The threats to the networks right now are different than where we were in 2015 and 2017. That’s creating a more narrow, focused, targeted conversation,” Chip Pickering, CEO of network trade group Incompas, told IT Brew.
For example, when the Obama-era FCC implemented the now-discarded rules in 2015, streaming services like Disney+, Peacock, and Apple TV+ hadn’t even existed. The net neutrality regime helped the burgeoning services get off the ground by ensuring that cable providers couldn’t charge access fees for content that competed with their own offerings, Pickering said.
Now, streaming services are booming, but he said the FCC’s eye is needed on other competitive issues, like multi-tenant building policies that sometimes prevent more than one service provider from accessing the building.
However, that type of oversight has been hard to achieve in the wake of the Trump FCC’s net neutrality rollback, Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer told us. Instead of narrowing the FCC’s authority to oversee ISPs, Greer noted that then-chair Ajit Pai disclaimed it completely by giving up what’s known as Title II authority over the internet, meaning throttling and prioritization of certain services became possible once more.
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A lack of net neutrality protection came to light in a public safety crisis: the front lines of the raging Mendocino Complex wildfire in 2018. Verizon copped to slowing firefighters’ mobile data plans after they reached a certain usage threshold, and a customer service rep reportedly told the fire department it needed to upgrade plans to restore full speeds.
The lack of explicit authority over ISPs meant that the agency could invite companies to make voluntary pledges to suspend service disruptions during the early days of the pandemic—but it couldn’t enforce the pledges and make sure people actually stayed online.
“Arguably, the most significant world event that has happened between then and now is the pandemic. And you couldn’t ask for a more terrible, but also kind of crystal-clear warning sign that the ability for people to access the internet is no longer a luxury or a nice-to-have,” Greer said. “It is a basic necessity.”
Although Verizon later admitted it made a mistake and emphasized it does suspend data caps in emergencies, the incident embodied what net neutrality advocates hope to preempt in the future.
“We can’t rely on a PR campaign to make sure firefighters and first responders get the service that they need,” Free Press Policy Director Joshua Stager told IT Brew. “The whole public safety angle is the big, sort of new thing that we can add to the record this time around.”
The FCC will vote on whether to move ahead with the proposed rulemaking and public comment period on Oct. 19. The measure is expected to pass with the agency’s new Democratic majority.