Blue Scream of Jeff: April 2017

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Net Neutrality is really a free-speech issue

I don’t like to discuss politics on this blog. When I created it, it was supposed to be a fun place for me to blather away about geek culture and technology, but more and more I feel compelled to have to speak about politics and how the people we are electing to serve our interests are instead serving themselves and selling all of us out in return.

So, what’s got my ire up now?

New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai recent announcement that he wants to dismantle Net Neutrality regulations, which guarantee that Internet Service Providers cannot favor or block any content or application based on its source.

This coming on the heals of last month’s decision by Congress to allow ISPs to turn us into commodities whose private information can be bought and sold without our consent just shows how the folks in Washington no longer care nor represent the average person. They’ve become shills for whatever company or lobbyist has deep enough pockets to buy them off.

What’s got me so angry about this announcement is that I see this as another direct assault on our individual rights. I spent the first 15 years of my career as journalist, defending the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

And now in my second carrier as a “Techie” I’ve come to realize that Internet – even with all its faults – has become the main forum where we exercise these rights, much in the same way our our Colonial forefathers and mothers used town squares and newspapers.

In today’s digital-centric society, guaranteeing that all traffic moves across the Internet with equal priority is very much a part of that free exercise of speech, the press, peaceable assembly and even petitioning of the government guaranteed in that great founding document.

I’ve already discussed why ISP’s arguments for ending Net Neutrality is frankly, bullshit, back in my 2015 column, “Making Internet access a public utility is a Net gain for us all.” Yet these companies persist on telling us the same lies, so they can increase their revenues.

Trust us, they say. We won’t abuse this power.

Yeah, right, like the way you are selling our browsing history without our consent?

Or how ’bout limiting our access to say Netflicks or Hulu or other streaming services unless we also subscribe to your cable channels?

Look, I’m not against ISPs wanting to make more money. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m all for it. I want them to continue to be successful and stay in business, so I can keep the high-speed Internet I’ve now come dependent on.

What I’m against is ISPs – and the politicians they are buying off – controlling what goes on in the medium and forum where much of our public discussion, debate and cat video-watching takes place.

We would never allow the government nor a consortium – no, make that a cabal – of private companies to buy up all the newsprint, broadcast licenses, cable channels, etc. and only rent them out to people it deems worthy or can afford to pay their exorbitant prices.

We don’t let telephone, electricity, gas, water, or sewerage companies do this. They must treat everyone in their service areas equally. Even broadcasters (TV, radio and cable) are bound by similar laws and must prove they are serving the public good of their communities.

So why the hell should ISPs not be held to similar standards?

The answer for us consumers is simple. They should be!

That’s why I need everyone reading this to contact your local senators, congressmen and the FCC to let them know in no uncertain terms to leave the current Net Neutrality laws intact!