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The Battle for the Internet Continues, Led by Millennials
By lynmiller-lachmann on 2017-12-11 18:30:57
[caption id="attachment_ 10660" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Net
Neutrality protest in front of the Verizon Store near Bryant Park in NYC on December 7.[/caption] Thursday December 7
saw nationwide rallies to protest Federal Communications Commission director Ajit Pai’s promise to end Net Neutrality at
the FCC’s monthly meeting on December 14. Most of the rallies, like the one in New York City that I attended along with
more than 1,000 other people, took place in front of Verizon offices and stores because, before becoming head of the FCC,
Pai worked as a lobbyist for Verizon. The people I talked to at the New York City rally understood that the FCC would make
its decision on behalf of the handful of Internet Service Providers regardless of what we think. And perhaps expecting favors
in return for their silence, our former free speech corporate allies — Apple, Alphabet/Google, Netflix, and Facebook — have
been noticeably quiet this round. As large players, they can afford to pay for fast lanes and pass the cost to the consumer, and
the restriction of access to the “last mile” of broadband will give them advantages over potential new competitors. All of this
is a lesson that corporations have no commitment to any principle beyond the almighty dollar — including democracy and
freedom of expression. (And if you want additional proof, check out this powerful piece about Facebook’s collaboration
with the murderous Duterte regime in the Philippines.) [caption id="attachment_10661" align="alignright" width="222"]
~
A Stuyvesant High School student holding the Gadsden Flag formerly favored by Tea
Party activists.[/caption] But there were signs of hope, most notably in the presence of a sizeable contingent of protestors
from Stuyvesant High School. They included members of the Stuyvesant Democrats, techies, gamers, and friends of free
speech. Like Brooklyn Technical High School, where I taught social studies and English before moving to Wisconsin (and
chaperoned a group to the huge disarmament rally in Central Park in 1982), Stuyvesant is an academic-specialized high
school, with graduates going on to top colleges. It is also a diverse school, as one can see from the pictures of students
carrying the banner and waving their “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. The Gadsden Flag, as it’s also known, was once a symbol of
the Tea Party and has now been picked up by the more libertarian elements of the Resistance. I talked to some of the
students who were there. Their concerns ranged from sites being blocked on free speech grounds to the impact of corporate
control of the internet on innovation. They will miss access to their favorite music, movies, and games if these services are
priced out of their reach. They also expressed concern that ISPs, operating as monopolies or in collusion, will not increase
and improve their capacity because they can make more money charging higher prices for the inadequate, poorly maintained
internet capacity they have now. [caption id="attachment_ 10662" align="alignleft" width="227"]
Another high school student leads a chant.[/caption] Along with the students from
Stuyvesant High School was a large group of undergraduates from NYU. While their university will continue to offer open
access to its students -- necessary for their research and interaction with peers and professors -- these students are concerned
about what will happen when they graduate. Nowadays, internet access is essential to applying for jobs, having a bank
account, filing tax returns, and most other aspects of life. Already, people in the U.S. pay the third highest rates in the world
for internet access, with average speeds across the country ranking around 20th place in 2017. Without Net Neutrality, prices
will likely rise, especially for consumers wishing to avoid caps on their usage, and websites that don't pay up will slow down
further. And some sites may disappear, as corporations not bound by the First Amendment will do an authoritarian
government's bidding in return for favors. We will see, in those circumstances, censorship by proxy -- a great concern of the
NYU students and one that political science undergraduate Ben Brachfield wrote about in NYU Local. It's worth a read.
Now that the comment period has closed and the FCC is about to rule, what's the next step? New York's Attorney General
Eric Schneidermann has initiated an investigation of fraudulent comments in favor of Pat's decision to end Net Neutrality on
the FCC site. Some of those comments allegedly used the names and emails of New Yorkers who did not authorize them,
which constitutes identity theft. Our senators and representatives can pass legislation to restore Net Neutrality by
reclassifying Internet Service Providers as public utilities, and we need to call them to do so. As consumers we can organize
boycotts of ISPs that block content on free speech grounds. We can sue for collusion if all the ISPs block the same sites or
sue on First Amendment grounds if there's clear evidence that the government has pressured the ISPs to restrict freedom of
speech. Without government protection, we don't have as much power, but we still do have some power. We need to keep in
mind that the labor movement and the civil rights movement began their struggles against a hostile government that didn't
The FCC is about
to vote to kill net
neutrality.
Only Congress
can stop it.
\ CALL CONGRESS
