On February 26th, the United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took a vote on net neutrality in the United States.
This vote set a precedent for restrictions on Internet access that will soon be debated in courts for the next year, while Internet service providers (ISPs) fight to stop them. It’s not as if this battle is only happening in the US; Canada has had fights over Internet prioritization as well.
Net neutrality is the idea that ISPs will provide Internet service in an equitable manner and not allow one company, site or user to have priority over another.[i] There are various ways that not having net neutrality can become an issue. Bandwidth throttling is when an ISP lowers the amount of bandwidth (transfer speed) because a site or a user is using too much. This can work in the reverse too, having companies pay for more bandwidth so that their site will load faster than a competitor’s. Another way that net neutrality can be compromised is with IP blocking. IP blocking is when an ISP prevents its user from accessing a specific website or IP address. A notable example of this is when Telus blocked access to labour union blogs during a strike in 2005.
In the US, the FCC voted 3:2 in favor of the new net neutrality regulations.[ii] These regulations include reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service, preventing ISPs from changing connection speeds based on fees, and prevents site blocking, to name a few. If these changes are upheld in the court battles (that will undoubtedly take place as ISPs battle for lesser regulated Internet), it will mean a huge precedent has been set for the US regarding future dealings of net neutrality.
Canada is no stranger to net neutrality issues. The Bell Mobile TV app, a $5/month app that Bell excluded from data limits, was subjected to a ruling by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regarding the pricing and activities of the app.[iii] CRTC argued that Bell was marking up prices for other streaming services, such as Netflix, by up to 800% a year once you factor in the data costs for use of these other non-unlimited services. The same argument was also made for Videotron and the illico.tv service. Bell was given until April 29th, 2015 to introduce appropriate data charges for the Mobile TV app, and Videotron was given until the end of March to change its service.
Net neutrality is an important issue that has ramifications for the Internet as it is today. By regulating the service providers, the hope is to keep the Internet as free as it can be with regards to speech, content, and viewing. With the FCC vote and the CRTC ruling, regulations are being laid for how ISPs must not offer preferential treatment to sites in exchange for payment. Considering the support that the Internet community has given to this response, these regulations may be around for a long time.
[i] Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/net neutrality>.
[ii] Kwong, Matt. “Net Neutrality Passes in Landmark FCC Decision – Technology & Science – CBC News.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/net-neutrality-passes-in-landmark-fcc-decision-1.2971126>.
[iii] Tencer, Daniel. “Bell Canada Goes To Court To Reverse ‘Net Neutrality’ Ruling.”The Huffington Post. 23 Feb. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/02/23/bell-canada-net-neutrality-crtc_n_6736348.html>.
[iv] [Net neutrality]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.activistpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/neurope-eu.jpg
