OK, here’s the deal — the data:
- AJit Pai’s FCC will almost certainly remove the “Net Neutrality” rule, which prevents ISPs from discriminating against certain content providers and websites;
- If the FCC doesn’t remove it entirely, it will instead twist it to become a de facto corporate censorship enabler;
- All of this is happening with the approval of Donald Trump and his fanbase — he really could shoot someone in public, and they’d rush to get blood-spot souvenirs!
Got that? Yeah, it sounds grim, and I’d be lying if I said the prognosis was great. But it’s not quite all there is. Now here’s the jazz — what is being done to keep the Internet going and great:
- In the 30 States which permit it, many municipalities are expediting the provision of municipal broadband ISPs, which will be content-neutral to their subscribers (i.e., any residents of the city willing and able to pay the fees);
- Non-profit groups (such as the Calyx Institute) are already forming up to provide broadband at-cost on a mass subscription basis, in some cases by end-running the ground communications network entirely; and
- At least some ballot initiatives are already underway to reverse State-level anti-municipal broadband laws. Even in the reddest States, these are not doomed to failure — this was best seen in the 2014 Republican landslide, in which progressive ballot initiatives often won even as Democrats were being voted out.
It seems to me that there are ways around the vampire-squid ISPs’ efforts to censor our data for their private profit. If the Federal Government will close off the way it provided in the past, that means it’s up to individual Americans to find what ways are possible, or create-able, or otherwise to be had to maintain the neutrality of the Internet — then to implement them!
It also means that it’s even more imperative to retake as many levers of power as possible. From municipal board-members (who can often make or break any effort to create a publicly-owned ISP for the municipality), all the way to Congress and the White House (who can legislate to require Net Neutrality, in ways the GOP can’t ratf**k to please their donors/owners), who holds office matters.
Leave the 2016 primary crap in the past, realize that Hillary supporters, Bernie supporters and all Democrats must hang together or hang separately, and get ahead of events.
Act, don’t react.
Do your research, spread the word (while you still can) to help others find these ways, and don’t assume that the ISPs will take the potential profit-loss lying down. As soon as they see other ways of accessing the internet gain currency, they will attempt to choke them off. Which means that you have to organize, organize, organize to protect everyone’s access to knowledge!!
(Headline image credit: John Cole, The Scranton Times.
Body image content: Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, Sinder Roze.)