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TLDR 128

Too Long; Didn't Read Issue 128

Published: 2017-12-16 • 📧 Newsletter

Welcome to Issue 128.

This week we take a deep dive into the recent vote and discussion around net neutrality. I know that, for the most part, the net neutrality debate is primarily for just my readers in the U.S. However, I think this is more of a global issue for a variety of reasons. First, most of the platforms and tools you use for personal and professional use originate in the U.S. This will have a dramatic impact on the reach and innovation of these services. Second, I believe that we all exist in these blurry, digital spaces that straddle the geography of here and there.

The power of the Internet is that we need to educate, advocate, and empower each other. So, this issue of TL;DR will mostly focus on net neutrality. I'll strive to educate, let us know the bigger challenges, and most importantly...next steps. It was hard work...but I think I also remained relatively snark-free in this issue.

If you've had enough of net neutrality talk, please feel free to read a book, or binge watch some Netflix while you can (ooops...couldn't stop myself). If you're still trying to figure out what all of this noise is or means about net neutrality...you're in the right place. If you've been following this debate for some time...hopefully I've effectively covered the important news in a busy week on this topic.

Please subscribe to make sure this comes to your inbox each week. You can review archives of the newsletter or on Medium.

This week I posted the following:

Say hey with a note at hello@wiobyrne.com or on the socials at wiobyrne.

🔖 Key Takeaways

📺 Watch

An easy to understand, concise overview of net neutrality, and the impact of the recent vote from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to repeal Net Neutrality.

📚 Read

This week the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to dismantle rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the Internet.

These rules, the so-called "net neutrality" regulations, prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone service.

This repeal of rules will most likely have significant impact on the experiences you have while using the Internet.

More than 20 internet pioneers and leaders including the "father of the internet", Vint Cerf; the inventor of the world wide web, have urged the FCC to cancel its vote to repeal net neutrality, describing the plan as "based on a flawed and factually inaccurate" understanding of how the internet works.

The open letter indicates that "It is important to understand that the FCC's proposed order (FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order) is based on a flawed and factually inaccurate understanding of Internet technology," the internet pioneers state, adding that the flaws were outlined in detail in a 43-page comment submitted by 200 tech leaders to the FCC in July.

Despite widespread public outcry, the FCC broke with established practice by not holding any public meetings to hear from citizens and experts about the appeal, the letter states. They argue that the FCC should delay the vote until it has fully investigated the problems with the online commenting system and come up with an alternative way of protecting net neutrality principles.

Despite this commentary, the FCC did not correct its misunderstandings and voted to repeal the net neutrality rules as detailed in the first story this week in TL;DR.

So...the FCC decided to repeal the earlier net neutrality rules. What's next?

The first step is to educate yourself as to why this debate is important. As we've discussed in TL;DR in previous issues...this is a hard subject to understand. But, IMHO...understand you must.

Educating yourself is most likely going to get a lot more difficult as speech and justice are curtailed in the U.S. as these new rules come into fruition. Tressie McMillan-Cottom has a great look at the politics and polarization that we're in store for.

As detailed by the post above from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), there are battles coming up in Congress, the court system, in the states, and at home. If you're in the U.S., please take the time to follow the links on the EFF page to call your local representatives. You can also sign this open petition from Mozilla.

One of the main challenges that we have in the net neutrality debate is that most Americans do not have choice when it comes to Internet service providers (ISPs).

As an experiment, take a look at this cool online tool to see how many providers you have for high speed Internet if you live in the U.S. The FCC talks about promoting competition, the truth of the matter is that over 70% of Americans either do not currently have access to high speed Internet...or only have one option.

One of the most interesting, most exciting options is in the form of local, public broadband. This means that your local area would form a service that would provide public broadband access. In the same way that some communities offer water, sewage, or electricity...you would be able to purchase metered, high speed access to the Internet.

This is the direction I hope we have...but getting there will be hard.

As we were leading up to Thursday's vote to repeal the net neutrality legislations, FCC Chairperson Ajit Pai released an insolent video in which he explains that we all shouldn't worry. We'll still be able to Instagram our food, take selfies with out pets, and do the Harlem shake.

I'd like to believe that the Internet offers incredible opportunities to empower ourselves, and achieve great things with our lives. As part of this, we'll need to understand that the Internet, and more importantly access to the Internet will be a valuable commodity. As such, we need to have real discussions about what this means in our lives, and how do we regulate all aspects of these spaces.

That means that we need to have discussions in which citizens and legislators understand these technologies, and not just use old laws and thinking to regulate new spaces. As suggested in this piece in The Atlantic:

The most important step for the future of the internet, for citizens, politicians, and corporations alike, is to calm down, research, and debate its future. But the internet's nature might make that impossible.

🔨 Do

Last week, one of the authors of the awesome website Pixel Privacy reached out to see if I'd be interested in linking across content between our two sites.

This comprehensive post gives an excellent overview on how to protect yourself and your privacy while online. I'm going to work my way through the different tips, tricks, and tools over the coming weeks as I re-evaluate my digital hygiene. You should do the same.

🤔 Consider

"There is no freedom when you have to pay extra to stand on the soap box." — Thor Benson

This quote crystallizes the net neutrality debate: internet access isn't just about consuming content but about participating in democracy. When ISPs can charge different rates for different services or slow down disfavored speech, the digital public square becomes privatized, and freedom of expression becomes a commodity available only to those who can afford premium access.

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Part of the 📧 Newsletter archive documenting digital literacy and technology.