After reading countless articles and watching countless apocalyptic, prognosticating youtube clips, it suddenly dawned on me that people have no idea what Net Neutrality actually is.
Here are some of the things people say:
Net Neutrality...
• Will keep the internet open
• Will prevent data from being priced differently
• Will literally kill the internet without it
Note: Actual file footage of what happens after the repeal of Net Neutrality.
These are vague talking points that miss the point of what proponents really advocate.
If you're curious, ask someone if they can explain Net Neutrality to you and see if you get anything other than a cryptic answer.
So what is it?
Net Neutrality is the idea that government should nationalize and regulate the internet like your electricity or water.
The common perception here is that, "Well, government already regulates utilities, so why should internet be any different?" Good question, and I'll get to this in part 2. First we need to know...
Where did this idea originate?
After decades of having an internet where prices have fallen dramatically, where speeds have increased by orders of magnitude, where internet access is everywhere and unrestricted... the government realized it needed to do something about all this.
Let's say you're a government official and you have an agenda (shouldn't be all that hard to imagine really). Let's say your agenda is to control the flow of information so that it skews in your general direction for the purpose of getting reelected or passing more cumbersome laws onto your voting constituency.
What could you possibly do to curb that flow of information in a world where information is everywhere?
First thing you do is remind yourself that you're a part of the world's most powerful monopoly with a near unlimited income and an unrivaled military industrial apparatus.
Then you remind yourself that regulation is the way to control those information gatekeepers and that you regularly do this with other sectors.
Finally, you have to convince well-intentioned people that government control over the internet is in their best interest.
And that's how Net Neutrality was born.
Obviously, this is an overly simplistic explanation, yet it cuts to the heart of why it exists in the first place. It's not a single individual but a system of individuals who all share similar beliefs about the flow of information.
There's one country that does this exactly: China.
The Great Firewall of China
Believe it or not... China has its own amazingly successful Net Neutrality. They spend billions of tax dollars to create hardware and software which filters and flags any content which goes against China's interest while actively hiding information from their own population which could hurt their self-image. For example, they've successfully scrubbed their internet of the terrible mass murder they caused at Tiananmen Square. To do this, they hire thousands of people to sit and scour the internet for individuals who spread crazy ideology like "liberty" and "human rights" or "history". Anyone caught with subversive ideas is arrested and thrown in prison. It's the Ministry of Truth 2.0. And it's also the wet dream of all other governments around the world.
China justifies it's extreme violence toward individuals promoting liberty by saying things like, "People already understand that free speech can not go against social order. Internet regulation is not only an embodiment of the government's will, but is also laid on the foundation of the public interest." (techdirt)
What do you think China would do if their idea of "social order" was in conflict with the people they rule?
It doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, it's government control of the internet and whatever they say is in your best interest is what you better agree with on the internet or you can spend the rest of your life in jail (there are college students here in the states that salivate at that notion).
I know what you're thinking: "We're not China".
True. But we also have a government that spies on EVERYTHING IT CAN POSSIBLY SPY ON. We have a government that has been at war for nearly two decades now.
Are you really going to play the "but that can't happen here" game while we drone bomb countries whose name we can't pronounce?
We can't be so naive as to believe our government is noble only when it's in the hands of those we personally support. That's how we end up justifying the mass murder of people who think differently than we do. Just ask China about that.
The USA and the War on the Open Internet
The United States is at war with anyone that wants anonymity or access to information that could potentially make them look bad.
What better way to maintain control that than by directly controlling it?
Net Neutrality is that first step. They have to convince you that this powerful internet isn't so powerful and only they can save it from ::insert manufactured scapegoat::. Once you're good and convinced they're needed to regulated it they'll unleash a MASSIVE campaign to smear anyone who would threaten their power... but they're smart. They won't tell you that you threaten their power. Instead, they'll tell you that the evil ::insert manufactured scapegoat:: are out to get you with their greed and remind you that they have material things that you don't!
If that doesn't work, they know their shills will make outlandish statements like, to paraphrase, 'if you don't support Net Neutrality, you're literally killing the internet'.
Assuming they did their job right, you'll buy into the fear-mongering and you'll proselytize with the gospel of government internet regula... I mean Net Neutrality... and demonize anyone that disagrees with you.
The Gatekeepers of the Internet (or how I learned they aren't)
They want you to be this stupid:
So who are these scapegoats that Net Neutrality will supposedly ride a white horse to save us from?
Internet Service Providers.
Comcast. Time Warner. AT&T. and many more.
These are the companies that build the infrastructure that connects you to the internet.
Understand... THEY ARE NOT THE INTERNET. Nor did they create it. They are simply companies that spent billions of dollars to provide you with access to that global network. They built some of the roads... you pay to use them.
So how do these supposed gatekeepers threaten the existence of the internet? Well, they actually don't. But what the proponents of Net Neutrality want you to believe is that companies like Comcast have a switch they can flip and suddenly you have no access, or you suddenly have to pay more, or whatever doom and gloom scenario they've got painted which ignore market economics. They want you to believe that without Net Neutrality these Internet Service Providers will suddenly make you pay a different price for accessing sites Netflix over their own services.
These are bogus arguments because they assume you have no alternative Internet Service Providers... which you do (more on this in Part 2).
That's Net Neutrality in a nut shell. It's just a government-fabricated issue to fear-monger their way to a massive power grab.
If you're interested in the economic ramifications of Net Neutrality check out the following article:
https://fee.org/articles/net-neutrality-is-about-government-control-of-the-internet/