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Net Neutrality: Protecting Our Rights Online

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By Jan


Imagine a world in which YouTube takes forever to buffer, yet you have to scramble to mute loud advertisement videos that pop up before the video starts to load. Ever wondered why it doesn’t take much time for the ads to load up? If you’re lucky enough to receive Netflix service, or just smart enough to use a virtual private network (VPN), and if your country doesn’t have net neutrality laws, then your Netflix buffering speed will surely suffer. Avoiding all the nitty-gritty details, net neutrality is the principle that all internet data traffic should be treated equally. Under net neutrality, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) don’t have a say in which sites load faster or slower than the speed you paid for. The opposite of net neutrality is known as paid prioritization; large advertisement companies can pay your ISP to load advertisements faster while you have to beg your video loading bar to grant you another millimeter. The worst-case scenario would result in you having to pay your ISP to access some websites, or having no access to particular websites. Large ISP companies or telecom conglomerates can cripple competitors they are against.

2014 was the year in which net neutrality shook up the online community. Notably, Reddit, the 9th most popular website in the United States, was up in arms about the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) plan to open fast and slow broadband lanes for various content providers. The FCC opened up to comments on PublicKnowledge.org, and social media users immediately posted links to the site to spread awareness.

Widespread demonstrations took place on 10 September 2014, known as Internet Slowdown Day. Popular websites such as Tumblr, Etsy, Kickstarter, Netflix, Reddit and Vimeo displayed the spinning loading icon that would direct users to Battleforthenet.com, featuring many paths to contact decision makers about upholding net neutrality. The garnered attention crashed the PublicKnowledge.org servers, and the FCC received a total of 3.7 million comments advocating the preservation of net neutrality in the United States. In February of this year, new net neutrality laws were passed. It was a major victory for American netizens, but sadly the same cannot be said for the global community.

In some countries, net neutrality simply doesn’t exist as the government completely blocks websites like Facebook and Google with firewalls. Without net neutrality, ISPs are allowed to practice zero-rating, not charging their customers for specific online services. This may sound attractive to end users, but ISPs that practice zero-ratings are commonly found to provide data plans with low data caps, charging more per megabyte over preset limits.

However, having zero-ratings may help end-users avoid bill shocks, caused by using more data than allotted in the monthly data plan. Many countries have implemented net neutrality laws in the 2010s, initiated by Chile in July of that year. As of 2014, Chilean ISPs no longer provide zero-rating access to their users.

In 2011, the Dutch telecom giant KPN wanted to charge a premium price for services like Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype and many others. In response to the net neutrality laws, ISPs in the Netherlands have raised their average prices to compensate for losses. However the Dutch weren’t phased by the higher prices. A New York times quote of a Dutch technology consultant, Mr. Leenders, said, “I can still watch what I want, when I want. It is not up to any company to tell me what I can do online.” In addition to the new laws, ISPs are banned from conducting deep packet inspections (DPI), a process whereby they analyse what a customer is using their bandwidth on.

Net neutrality can be likened to freedom of speech, in the sense that people should have equal access to all information no matter the source and prevents discrimination of online content, a form of censorship.

Another compelling argument for net neutrality is for the protection of user privacy. If an ISP wanted to block a user from connecting to a website – for example, Facebook – then the ISP could conduct DPIs on all data going to and from the user’s computer. Under normal circumstances, digital information is sent in packets that the ISP passes along and cannot monitor. DPIs are a potential security loophole, as information scanned can be recorded and saved. DPIs can be used to prevent viruses from plaguing the masses, yet they compromise the privacy of the user.

One way to protect yourself from being monitored is to only connect to websites that offer encrypted connection; you could also use VPN services that reroute your data to avoid your own government or ISP’s censorship.

As we march into a digital age, debates on the right to access uncensored information grow increasingly important and relevant. Thanks to the efforts of netizens across multiple social media boards, net neutrality is gaining more and more recognition, and may one day be a universal right.

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