Bonum Certa Men Certa

Net Neutrality is Dead in the West. Now What?

Comcast is Blocktastic? SavetheInternet.com



Summary: Final thoughts about the fall of net neutrality in Western nations, notably the UK and US (creators of the Web and the Internet)

NETWORK capacity for the Internet is not an issue, especially not in the West. Today we upgraded to fibre, raising download speeds to 80Mbits/second after new infrastructure had been installed in our area (and promotional offers combined with bargaining over the phone for one hour made it as inexpensive as copper). When capacity is lacking/insufficient, then additional wiring/improved wiring kicks in. So why can't we all have net neutrality (equal utilisation, irrespective of requester and protocol)? BT appears to be throttling Internet traffic, but it's hard to tell for sure although my contacts at BT management suggest that it's true. It seems safe to say that in the UK we have lost net neutrality and it may never come back. The public is apathetic; the vast majority of people here don't even know what net neutrality is. Heck, I received promotion of Internet censorship by BT this afternoon. BT recommends "parental controls" for adults too. It would be absolutely hilarious if it wasn't true. Extensive Internet censorship will be on by default here soon. Who needs to worry about net neutrality (soft censorship) when the British public already accepts full censorship with open arms?



Coverage about the death knell of net neutrality in the US (setting the trend for other nations) has pretty much died down since it made headlines. The FCC is not doing anything substantial [1] and corporations mostly let it be even if it hurts them [2]. It's defeatism all over the place [3] and the petition to the White House is very far from the goal [4] (where the White House is obliged to respond). The FCC's Chairman, Tom Wheeler, is not even in favour of net neutrality on the face of it [5]. No surprise there given his background. We called him a mole as soon as he was appointed.

Solutions are still being put forth [6-8], noting the nature of the Web [9,10] and its history [11], but judging by public discussion in the press (or lack thereof) we now need a movement like that which defeated SOPA and ACTA. Anything else would help preserves the status quo, where net neutrality is basically seen as a faraway dream for idealists.

As long as political systems are dominated by corporate power we are unlikely to see things improving, and any time the public shoots down attempts of corporate landgrab (by shaming politicians who support ACTA for instance) they will just try again later, under more euphemistic names like TPP, and of course in secrecy (as long as they can get away with it).

Related/contextual items from the news:


  1. Make ISPs into "common carriers," says former FCC commissioner


  2. How net neutrality shenanigans could put the hurt on Netflix
    Will ISPs block and degrade video traffic? It wouldn't be the first time.


  3. Why Advertisers Will Survive Just Fine Without Net Neutrality (But Should Support It Anyway)


  4. Restore Net Neutrality By Directing the FCC to Classify Internet Providers as "Common Carriers".


  5. Why FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler isn’t big on net neutrality rules
    After yesterday’s appeals court decision that rendered the Federal Communication Commission’s net neutrality rules useless against Internet providers like Verizon, the country is up in arms about whether the concept of an open Internet will remain intact.

    Well, newly appointed FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is only fanning the flames of the fire with repeatedly vague responses regarding net neutrality. People are up in arms because Wheeler doesn’t view net neutrality as a communication issue, but rather a network (technical) issue, which aligns with yesterday’s court decision.


  6. Back to the drawing board on ’net neutrality’ rules


  7. Losing Net Neutrality Is The Symptom, Not The Problem: Now Is The Time To Focus On Real Competition


  8. Solving the Net Neutrality Problem Is Actually Simple
    The Federal Communications Commission is sitting on a mess. This week the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. decided in Verizon Communications v. the FCC (pdf) that the commission didn’t have the authority to impose its open Internet order on Verizon (VZ) or anyone else. There is a simple fix for this mess. It does not require any new laws from Congress. It already has the support of the Supreme Court.


  9. Keep the Internet free and open
    To ensure net neutrality and maintain the Internet's crucial role in commerce, education and public safety, the FCC needs to reclassify service providers as Title II telecommunications services.



  10. Net Neutrality and the Ghettoization of the Internet
    The definition of "ghetto" per Merriam-Webster online: a part of a city in which members of a particular group or race live usually in poor conditions.


  11. How Policymakers Enabled The Internet
    The Internet has become so integral to our everyday lives that it is easy to forget how young it is. Mosaic, the first graphical web browser, came out in 1993. Since then, the Internet’s phenomenal growth has transformed the way billions of people around world communicate, learn, work, trade, campaign, mate, protest, plot and form communities.


Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025