Monday, June 11 was the day the FCC’s repeal of the Open Internet Order took effect. That means federally mandated network neutrality is over. Internet service providers are now free to throttle or block specific sites or services, or to offer paid prioritization to others, with the only proviso being that they disclose it. (For disclosure, think of the multi-thousand word EULAs we call click through without reading. That’s where they’ll be hidden in plain sight.)
The fact that the internet didn’t all-of-a-sudden slow to crawl, and your favorite audio and video sites didn’t immediately become inaccessible is the argument that opponents pose to demonstrate that net neutrality isn’t actually necessary. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will the open internet close so quickly.
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation points out, we need to keep our eyes on the margins. “Both landline and mobile ISPs with data caps have already been pushing customers to particular services and media with zero-rating and throttling,” writes the EFF’s Kit Walsh.
Zero-rating is when your ISP or mobile data provider lets you use one service without any bandwidth charges. In the case of Verizon, this might be the company’s go90 live video streaming service, or with T-Mobile it’s a wider array of Binge On or Music Freedom services.
Though T-Mobile doesn’t operate its own streaming service that it can privilege like Verizon does, do not doubt that the services included are receiving an advantage over those that aren’t. If you’re a Verizon or T-Mobile customer it’s easy to see how there’s an incentive to prefer go90 or Hulu if it won’t count against your data plan, even if maybe there’s a service better suited to your needs that isn’t zero-rated.
On the audio side T-Mobile zero-rates 44 different services, including both big players like Pandora, Spotify and iHeartRadio, along with smaller ones like SomaFM. So what about your local community or college station? It might be represented on iHeartRadio – though a lot of non-comms don’t want to play with the former Clear Channel – or NextRadio, which is Android-only, leaving out a significant percentage of smartphone users.
TuneIn is probably internet radio’s biggest aggregator, and so the most likely place you might be able to stream that station for free. But only the paid TuneIn Premium service is included in Music Freedom. So then it’s really only a matter of who you pay. Moreover, that community or college radio station’s own app is definitely not included.
Now it’s time to watch how these zero-rating programs expand. And, for radio enthusiasts, it’s time to watch how other carriers and ISPs, besides T-Mobile, either start offering strategic partnerships with the biggest audio players, start their own or acquire them. There’s precedent for ISPs to become media companies: Comcast merged with NBC/Universal and Verizon gobbled up Yahoo and AOL.
This is something I discussed on our podcast with Prof. Christopher Terry, from the University Minnesota, after the FCC repealed its Open Internet Order.
Another of the anti-net neutrality crowd’s favorite arguments is that the FCC’s Open Internet Order isn’t Constitutional. That argument, however, has already been tested in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the Commission’s ability to protect net neutrality. That decision has been appealed to the Supreme Court by U.S. Telecom, but the FCC has filed for a delay seven times. This means that the DC Circuit’s decision that the Open Internet Order is Constitutional stands, regardless of claims made otherwise, even those made by the current FCC Chair.
Meanwhile, on May 15 the Senate voted to overturn the FCC’s decision to undo net neutrality. As Tim Karr from Free Press explained on our podcast, that resolution faces an uphill battle in the House. Yet, there are multiple fronts in this fight.
A net neutrality law just went into effect in Washington State, timed to coincide with the FCC’s repeal. That law prohibits both home and mobile ISPs from blocking or throttling internet traffic, or from offering paid prioritization. 33 states are considering similar legislation.
Local governments are taking steps, also. Six governors and 120 mayors have signed executive orders preventing their municipalities from doing business with ISPs that violate open internet principles.
On top of that, 23 state attorneys general have filed suit against the FCC because the agency declared that states cannot legislate to preserve net neutrality, even as the Commission decided it also did not want the authority.
Net neutrality advocates are urging those concerned about the loss of internet freedom to contact their local and state representatives, as well as federal representatives in the House who might support undoing the FCC’s Open Internet repeal.
