Repealing American net neutrality threatens online access for Canadians
Telecommunications specialist at Stanford University says neutrality isn’t just an American issue
By: Sarah Do Couto
An end to net neutrality in the United States will threaten free and secure internet on a global scale, says a telecommunications specialist at Stanford University.
Net neutrality, a concept affirmed by the Obama administration in 2015, ensures that no internet service providers can block or slow traffic to certain websites, or create internet fast lanes to sponsored content.
This means no company can offer providers financial compensation for higher internet speed in order to draw in more web traffic.
Paddy Leerssen, an open internet fellow at Stanford University, said a removal of net neutrality in the U.S. affects Canadians as well.
“The internet is global,” Leerssen said. “There are no borders, it can be shared across the world.”
Leerssen said he worries since the U.S. tends to lead global policy making, that countries like Canada will follow suit.
According to CTV, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t feel the same way.
“I am very concerned about the attacks on net neutrality,” Trudeau told CTV.
“The internet is the lever to create economic growth and opportunities for citizens right across this country,” he said. “We need to continue to defend net neutrality and I will.”
Challenging legislation
In November, the United States Federal Communications Commission outlined plans to change the Obama era regulations.
Newly elected FCC Chair Ajit Pai said the government needs to stop “micromanaging the internet.”
According to the Washington Post, Pai said in a statement, “Instead, the FCC would simply require the internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plans that’s best for them.”
Cutting out smaller businesses
Stan Benda, a law and business professor at Ryerson University, said the FCC’s proposal, regardless of transparency, is unfair.
“Taking away net neutrality means little startups won’t have the same chance,” Benda said.
Leerssen said he fears repealing neutrality will solidify the dominance of large online players.
He said large corporations like CNN and the Washington Post will benefit from paid fast lanes, but smaller independent creators will suffer.
He said this in turn affects Canadians, as many use primarily American websites. Through ensuring the dominance of large companies, it limits citizen’s access to information.
Ending neutrality is already in effect
Many cellphone service providers have already begun to eliminate net neutrality.
According to Wired, service providers have created “zero rating” data exemptions.
Companies like T-Mobile have created programs which exempt music streaming services from user’s data caps. Therefore, if a T-Mobile subscriber were to use a sponsored streaming service like Pandora, they would not pay for the data used.
Benda said this will ensure that small businesses remain small.
Leerssen said this will negatively affect Canadian businesses because it will be incredibly difficult to break into the American market, without making arrangements with internet service providers.
Who is defending net neutrality?
There are a number of companies supporting net neutrality, both in the U.S. and globally. Corporations like Google, Facebook, Firefox and OkCupid have come to the defence of net neutrality.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Netflix supports strong <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NetNeutrality</a>. We oppose the FCC's proposal to roll back these core protections.</p>— Netflix US (@netflix) <a href=”https://twitter.com/netflix/status/933042368156123136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>November 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Leerssen said what he loves most about the internet is the global community it creates. If net neutrality were repealed, there would be divide between countries like the U.S. and Canada.
“One of the ideals of the internet is that this is the place that has an equalizing effect where you don’t need to have connections to CNN or the New York Times,” he said. “There are no gatekeepers involved.”
Infographic by: Waverly Neufeld
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