Deep Dive: In Defense of A Neutral Net

The Federal Communications Commission is about to make a critical decision about whether Internet providers will be allowed to discriminate against certain websites. The issue is network neutrality—the principle that Internet providers must treat all data that travels over their networks equally. On Tuesday, EFF filed comments with the FCC to weigh-in on this critical debate.

Without network neutrality, companies like Comcast and Verizon will be permitted to charge websites to reach users faster. This would be a disaster for the open Internet. When new websites can’t get high-quality service, they’ll be less likely to reach users and less likely to succeed. The result: a less diverse Internet.

We want the Internet to live up to its promise of improving the way we communicate, learn, share and create. We want it to continue to foster innovation, creativity, and freedom. We don’t want regulations that will let ISPs turn into gatekeepers, making special deals with a few companies and inhibiting new competition, innovation, and expression.

Here’s an overview of how network discrimination hurts free expression and innovation, how we can safeguard against it, and what EFF—with your help—is doing about it.

The Dangers of Discrimination

Net neutrality is not just about slowing down websites’ access to users. Equally important, it also protects against other forms of pay-for-play and unfair discrimination. Here are a few ways ISPs have throttled or blocked content in the past.

• Comcast was caught interfering with their customers’ use of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer technologies

• A Canadian ISP slowed down all encrypted file transfers

• The FCC fined Verizon for charging consumers for using their phone as a mobile hotspot

• "Fast lane" discrimination allows wireless customers without data plans to access certain sites but not the whole Internet 

These practices pose a dire threat to the engine of innovation that has allowed hackers, startup companies, and kids in their college dorm rooms to make the Internet that we know and love today.

The FCC’s Past Attempts at Net Neutrality

The FCC proposed rules in 2010 that were designed to address net neutrality, though they were never enforced. Verizon immediately sued the FCC and the issue was tied up in the courts for the next four years.

We had many concerns about the FCC’s old net neutrality rules. As we explained in comments in 2010, the FCC's rules would have allowed ISPs free rein to discriminate as long as it was part of “reasonable efforts to… address copyright infringement.” This broad language could lead to more bogus copyright policing from the ISPs.

We were also uncomfortable giving the FCC power to over-regulate the Internet, and so we were concerned about the broad authority the FCC claimed when proposing the rules in 2010. Not to mention that the FCC has a sad history of being captured by the very industries it’s supposed to regulate while ignoring the interests of the Internet-using public. In the early 2000s, for example, the commission essentially ignored the comments of hundreds of thousands of Americans who opposed media consolidation.

In January of this year, the issue came to a head. A federal court ruled that the FCC didn’t have authority to pass the old net neutrality rules in the way that it did, sending the FCC back to the drawing board to create new rules to keep Internet providers in check.

In response, the FCC has proposed the plan we’re debating today. Unfortunately, these proposed rules would allow companie