Net Neutrality: What is it and why should you care?
In the effort to maintain an open internet, some think we need more government intervention while others trust the free market to keep the big telecoms in check.
A year ago, net neutrality died. It was murdered by big telecom and its political allies. No one outside of these companies and their friends like this or wanted it. According to a survey by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, “86% oppose the repeal of net neutrality, including 82% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats.”
Another poll from tech research company Comparitech found 80% of Americans support net neutrality. In this survey, almost 87% of Democrats and 77% of Republicans supported net neutrality. I’m hard-pressed to think of any other issue that gets so much support from both blue and red voters in these days of heated political debate.
Despite this bi-partisan support, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has shown no interest in giving the Save the Internet Act a vote — never mind supporting it. In the House, it passed with a majority of Democrats and a single Republican vote.
Now, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other pro-net neutrality spokespeople are calling out McConnell.
Warrent tweeted: “The House passed the #SaveTheInternet Act to restore #NetNeutrality, @senatemajldr buried it in his legislative graveyard. The internet doesn’t belong to giant companies – it belongs to all of us. I’m joining @SenMarkey @SenateDems to demand a vote for a free open internet.”
According to Demand Progress, another net neutrality organization, McConnell was presented with 3.5 million petitions and comments “in support of strong open internet protections.”
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican and former Verizon Associate General Counsel, recently claimed “investment in our nation’s broadband networks rose in 2018 for a second straight year, with an estimated increase of $3 billion.”
But that’s not what the Financial Times, which has no dog in this fight, found. By studying financial reports, they found Verizon, ATT, Comcast, and Charter slightly cut their capital infrastructure expenditures — from $57.1 billion to 56.9 billion.
“Verizon, Comcast, and Charter invested less in their networks after the net neutrality rules were repealed,” observed Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, a pro-net neutrality organization. “And ATT recently announced that it would do the same.”
You might ask, “It’s been a year, what’s so bad about not having net neutrality?” Is this much ado about nothing?” Look more closely.
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax): A cheat sheet
According to Public Knowledge, the ISPs are slowly, but surely, taking advantage of their freedom to increase their profits at the expense of consumers and rival companies:
It sure looks to me like there’s something rotten in the internet of the US.
Despite all this and all the protests, there won’t be a vote in the Senate. Earlier, McConnell declared the bill “dead on arrival in the Senate.” There’s no reason to think he’s changed his mind.
McConnell rules the Senate with an iron fist. He has no interest in letting any issue he opposes get a vote — even if his own voters support net neutrality.
Article source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/pro-net-neutrality-advocates-take-on-u-s-senate-majority-leader-mitch-mcconnell/#ftag=RSSbaffb68