Author: Tyler Kearn
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed formally mandating net neutrality on Oct. 22. Net neutrality, in general terms, is the theory that everyone should have equal and open access to the Internet. If the rules go into effect, things are likely to remain relatively the same as they currently stand - however, if the rules are stopped in Congress, it could affect the Internet experience of everyone, including users of Occidental’s network.
Currently, the United States is a net-neutral environment – all web traffic is treated equally and everyone has access to the same Internet. The fear is that if net neutrality rules aren’t put into effect, Internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon, Comcast, or AT&T may start discriminating against certain traffic. For example, a company like Amazon could pay ISPs to have its sites load faster than other competitors. Or, a company like Fox could pay an ISP to only feature its content, and web users would be unable to see content of ABC or NBC without paying more.
There seems to be a strong opposition to this concept from Oxy students. “The Internet is supposed to be where all knowledge comes together,” Annie Lehmann (sophomore) said. “If there was not net neutrality, there would not be that breadth of access. Big businesses shouldn’t be allowed to determine what kinds of knowledge and information people can access.”
For Sara Roberts (senior), it is a matter of censorship. “I feel like everything should be like it is now [on the Internet]. No company should have any kind of monopoly. I believe in absolute freedom of speech,” she said.
Opponents of net neutrality argue that ISPs could also discriminate against traffic such as peer-to-peer file sharing (which is legal, but is often used for illegal purposes), slowing it down in order to speed up user access to things such as e-mail.
The FCC is actively meeting resistance in Congress from those who believe that the government shouldn’t interfere in private industries. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill on the same day that the FCC proposed its rules called the Internet Freedom Act of 2009. It states that “[The FCC] shall not propose, promulgate, or issue any regulations regarding the Internet or IP-enabled services.”
Should this bill pass and block the proposed FCC rules, there are potentially huge ramifications. “If we left it wholly to the market, net neutrality may dissolve. Companies could have all the power in the market,” Conor Anderson (junior) said.
Occidental does not have a position on the net neutrality debate. “We don’t have an ITS policy on net neutrality,” Todd Grappone, Deputy Chief Information Officer and Chief Technology Officer at ITS said.
However, the school is moving to continue to provide a net neutral environment. “Beginning in January, we are moving to a regional non-profit [ISP] called Los Nettos,” Grappone said. “When we move off commodity Internet, our quality of Internet won’t be dependent on who is paying Comcast or Verizon.”
This move should help insulate Occidental’s network should the FCC rules fail to be implemented and ISPs move away from the current equal environment.
As long as the FCC rules pass, “It should be business as usual for us,” Grappone said. However, should the ISPs abandon net neutrality and institute some sort of tiered system, Grappone says it’s possible that Oxy and those using its network could see some changes, but it’s hard to know what those would be at this point.
It will take some time for lawmakers to battle out network policy. The FCC’s regulations could go into effect in January, and it could take longer than that for a bill to make it though Congress. In the meantime, students and staff can keep on using the network – be it checking e-mail, doing library research, using Hulu, or anything less than legal – as usual.
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