Opinion: The Slow Death of the Internet

Martin Beck, Staff Reporter
September 5, 2014

For the first time in all of history, the Internet is in danger. The bastion of free expression, instantaneous communication and cat videos hangs in the balance, and many of us don’t realize it. If we, the Internet-reliant junkies, don’t take action soon, the Internet could become a puppet for ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and prying governments.

The Internet is like a faucet, or, rather, millions of faucets around the planet. ISPs provide pipes to these faucets. The more you pay to your ISP, the more capacity the pipes connected to your house, business, or school have access to. When multiple Internet hungry folk log on to websites simultaneously, only so much water can seep through the pipes, thus making the Internet connection slower.

Citizens of the United States don’t get many options when it comes to ISPs. We are limited to Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and AT&T in most cases.

In May of this year, the Federal Communications Commission suggested rules that would allow ISPs to offer a faster connection (more room in the pipes) to websites–for a price. Wealthier sites like Netflix and Facebook could afford to pay for that faster connection, while smaller independent sites would be allotted barely any flow.

Personal blogs and websites ill-equipped to pay the cost of wide bandwidth will be virtually inaccessible. The Internet, once a medium that fostered singular opinions and free speech, would be effectively reduced to a handful of mammoth websites that can afford to pay.

Cornerstones of the Internet like Amazon and Google started as back-alley webpages. These new rules could silence the next Amazon before it even gains traction.

You, as a consumer, are going to suffer the consequences of an ISP-controlled ‘net. It is estimated that Internet service prices are going to skyrocket up to $55 more, monthly, than what consumers pay now.

It gets worse, believe it or not. In 2012, Verizon filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals stating that, “… broadband providers possess ‘editorial discretion.’ Just as a newspaper is entitled to decide which content to publish and where, broadband providers may feature some content over others.” Verizon wants to amend content on and block access to certain sites you visit.

This mentality isn’t exclusive to Verizon. In January of this year, a major court decision struck down most regulations governing what ISPs can and can’t do concerning users’ privacy and an open Internet. ISPs are now freed from a whole slew of legal consequences, and the Internet hangs in the balance.

Net neutrality, the belief that users should be able to communicate freely online, has guided the Internet since its conception. ISPs shouldn’t tamper with that belief, and neither should the presence that overshadows ISPs: government surveillance. We all remember the Snowden fiasco exposing NSA spying. Snowden revealed several classified documents which unearthed the technology used to surveil the American people. This technology bears a futuristic, albeit portentous title: Prism.

Prism, at its core, is a partnership between several big players in the tech industry (including Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, Skype, YouTube, AOL, and Apple) and the NSA itself. The Prism program is set up in such a way that when the NSA has a suspicion of someone engaging in criminal acts, they contact these big players and ask for their information.

The scariest part may be, it’s that simple. Nearly every United States citizen leaves a trail of social media posts and browsing history online each day.

That being said, not all is completely lost. At the end of this year, the FCC will vote, once again, on this issue. This action will dictate whether the Internet returns to the haven of opinion and discussion, or slips into a dark place where tweets are screened and your ISP has the power to cut out your Internet willy-nilly. If the ISPs win this battle, expect emails shot down and websites sent to the chopping block.

We can still take action. Call your Congressperson. Write the FCC about this issue. Organize a protest group. The Internet doesn’t belong to ISPs or governments, it belongs to us.

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