This is the future if net neutrality is repealed; the creeping, costly death of media freedom

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[Commentary] If you’re scared of a future America without network neutrality, I want to terrify you. The potential repeal of what should be a civic right should chill you to the bone. After spending twelve years running a company that helps millions of people to break through the barriers of censorship imposed by oppressive governments, I am quite familiar with the ramifications of such repressions. When a country lacks an open internet, the government (and companies friendly with said government) are able to do anything from simply blocking or banning apps entirely (EG: Facebook, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp for censorship or economic reasons) to more aggressive moves such as Egypt’s effective shutdown of their internet service providers.

As a lucky American, it’s easy to say “this can’t happen here,” which is a reasonable, human gesture — we live under a democracy, but said democracy also has polarized politics and a totally different lobbying system to the rest of the world. While we have freedom of speech, we also have billions of for-profit lobbyist dollars acting as a cudgel against our interests. Out of the top 50 last year, the top 10 included AT&T, spending $16.3 million, and Comcast (the largest cable provider in America and owner of NBCUniversal) ranked 12th, spending $14.3 million. Verizon* spent $10 million, and T-Mobile $8 million. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, the NCTA ($13.4 million in lobbying in 2016) spent over half a billion dollars looking to destroy net neutrality. What I want to establish is the hunger these companies have had for the destruction of your right to a neutral internet. America may not have a dictatorship, but it now, if net neutrality is repealed, will have an oligopoly. As Gizmodo has mapped out, net neutrality exists so that ISPs cannot legally “give preferential treatment to services they directly profit from and block those they don’t, all the while charging internet companies like Netflix additional fees for speedier access to consumers.”

[David Gorodyansky is the chief executive officer of AnchorFree.]


This is the future if net neutrality is repealed; the creeping, costly death of media freedom