As of June 11th, the legal protections against content discrimination on the internet are gone. As far as the FCC is concerned, net neutrality is dead.
They promise — in name, at least — unrestricted access to online content minus the burden of regulation. But in fact, the new ruling clears the way for massive internet service providers to do practically whatever they like — including paid prioritization, throttling, and otherwise messing with traffic as it moves across the internet. It will take a long time to see the practical effects of the new rules, but make no mistake: this is a big deal, and it’s the first step in a long, slow process that will reshape the internet in very ugly ways.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE INTERNET NOW?
The good news is that nothing on your phone or laptop will look drastically different in the immediate future. Your webpages will continue to load at the same rate, and the content you already like to consume won’t dramatically flash a giant 404-like error message anytime soon. Carriers aren’t going to drop the throttle-hammer on day one, but they will continue on the path they have been on for years: using their control over the network to promote carrier-owned services and products.
YOUR INTERNET BILL MAY START TO LOOK A LOT MORE LIKE YOUR CABLE BILL
We already have a pretty good sense of how cable companies and wireless carriers will behave now that the FCC has backed off. For years, carriers have been striking deals with video and streaming services like Netflix, allowing for more reliable data delivery (also known as paid peering) or free mobile data (also known as zero-rating). If you’re an AT&T customer, you can watch cable programming on your phone, and it won’t count toward your data cap as long as you’re buying that cable from AT&T’s DirecTV subsidiary. So far, that has mostly translated to free stuff, so no one has been worried about it.
Paid prioritization deals could allow carriers to boost specific companies and products, depending on what makes the most money. Throttling could actively degrade service for non-partnered companies. The result would make it difficult for smaller streaming and video services to even get in the game. Over time, your internet bill may start to look a lot more like your cable bill.
In theory, competition between carriers would keep this from happening, but in many parts of the US, competition between carriers just doesn’t exist. That leaves providers free to restrict access and charge more for whatever services they want.
MOST INTERNET USERS WON’T BE IMPACTED BY THE RULES FOR MONTHS
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Net neutrality isn’t over just yet. There’s still hope. There’s a motion in Congress right now that would force the Republican majority in the House to bring up a vote on the floor to rescind the Pai order and reinstate the 2015 rules. The motion has already passed the Senate, and the House version needs less than 50 more representatives to sign before it gets the majority necessary to force a vote and pass the bill.
The motion faces steep odds in Congress and even steeper odds once it reaches the president’s desk, but it gives voters a chance to force legislators to take sides on what’s still a deeply unpopular proposal. If you support net neutrality and your representative doesn’t, you can vote them out November and replace them with someone who does.
Read more -- click theverge.com