Net Neutrality is Dead

[Zaune]

Economics aren't the only reason to throttle or block a site, though. Did we bump up against the Great Firewall of China yet? Because if not it's only a matter of time.

[Rogue 9]

So, umm... help me out here, I missed a lot of the early stages of this issue and now it's hard to find any information which isn't hysterically apocalyptic (possibly with justification, but no more readable for all that).

FCC just repealed some regulations which came in with Obama, right? Was the situation really that bad before those regulations were passed, and if not, why should we expect that to change now?

The regulations that the FCC just repealed were a replacement for a previous regulation scheme which was thrown out in court in 2014. Doing this doesn't return us to the previous regulation state; it puts us in a state of no FCC regulation of broadband service at all. The new rules remove the FCC's authority to regulate broadband altogether and transfers that authority to the Federal Trade Commission.

Which might be fine, except for this. The FTC isn't allowed to regulate common carriers. AT&T has argued as its defense in a regulation suit brought by the FTC that it is exempt from FTC regulation on the basis that its telephone business is a common carrier, therefore the FTC isn't allowed to regulate any aspect of their businesses to include those not classified as common carrier status. The Ninth Circuit has sustained this argument, and the case is currently pending appeal. If the Supreme Court upholds the Ninth, ISPs that also happen to be telephone companies will not be subject to any regulations whatsoever.

[Esquire]

Thanks, that's very helpful.

[Elheru Aran]

ISPs that also happen to be telephone companies will not be subject to any regulations whatsoever.

Which, in my experience, is almost ALL of them. Verizon? Phone. Comcast? Offers phone (not sure if it's VOIP but pretty sure it's got landline options). AT&T? Yup. Cell companies? Yep.

It's pretty hard, actually, to find an ISP that doesn't offer telephone services as an add-on at the very least. Most of them have packages including basic cable with telephone and internet.

[Dominus Atheos]

My god, none of you have enough imagination to fill a thimble do you ?

Here's the 3 step process that Comcast, Verizon, etc are going to follow:

Step 1. Absolutely nothing.

The first thing the ISPs are going to do is nothing. Not a goddamn thing. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

They're not going to go shake down Netflix, Youtube, iTunes, Steam, or any other high bandwith generator. They won't theaten to throttle anyone, or do anything else like that.

On the other hand, other people are going to be doing things. Especially Netflix, Youtube, iTunes, Steam, or other bandwith generators. They are going to be generating more bandwidth with 4k videos etc.

Step 1, to put it simply, is that the ISPs are doing nothing, while the rest of the internet gets... deeper, forcing everyone else to compete for the same absolute amount of bandwidth on the ISPs backends until it gets saturated and everything slows down.

Step 2 is to offer paid prioritization, meaning that anyone who pays for it can get their traffic as fast as possible, just like if the ISP had continued to upgrade their own network, while simultaneously degrading everyone elses internet including the paid prioritization client's competitors. (which is really just an added bonus)

The last step is of course "profit" as it always is in America for large well established (read: has a PAC and lobbyists) corporations

[Zixinus]

The ISPs are not going to immediately push terrible stuff on people right away. Doing anything will just play into Net Neutralit's reputation. They will wait for some time until the news fades from popular consciousness.

The bad stuff will happen slowly and subtly at first. Small charges, seemingly-reasonable stuff that won't bother most people or give minor extra charges. Or presented it as "benefits" or premium service for what people actually already pay for. Technical bullshit will likely be abundant. They may even offer "free" services like they do in Africa that is actually just internet access but just heavily filtered to only access what the service-provider wants you to access.

It will be five or ten years time, if nothing is done to reverse this, when the anti-consumer stuff will be truly and clearly brought out. But by then, it will be deeply embedded so that most consumers will have to pay premiums to get the thing we have now. Any internet connection will come with built-in, irremovable limitations on this or that service. The ISP will limit a costumer's activity by what is convenient for them, whether for technical reasons or even political. It will be then that all the "doomsaying" will start to leak in. The Internet will not be broken but it will be a much poorer and less free place than it is now. The ISPs are not evil because they hate the free Internet, they are evil because they want to create a restricted internet when they don't need to. An Internet with Net Neutrality will not stop their growth as they claim. It will only stop them from earning extra profits through barely-legal means, while creating a restricted Internet that will only be a step removed to being a censored Internet.

Look at Africa where Net Neutrality never really existed and you have prominent politicans throwing it under the bus while calling it a "pipe dream". People are regularly charged and given bullshit reasons to be overcharged.

EDIT: the greatest risk is that practices in the US will then be seen as normal for the rest of the world. Which means that restricted Internet will become the norm.

[The Romulan Republic]

I follow Democrats Abroad on Facebook, and they're urging Americans to contact their state's attorney general and tell them to sue to protect Net Neutrality.

The states listed as currently suing are:

California
Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Mississippi
New York
North Carolina
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Vermont
Virginia

If you are an American, and your state is not on this list, please call your state's attorney general.

[houser2112]

The FTC isn't allowed to regulate common carriers. AT&T has argued as its defense in a regulation suit brought by the FTC that it is exempt from FTC regulation on the basis that its telephone business is a common carrier, therefore the FTC isn't allowed to regulate any aspect of their businesses to include those not classified as common carrier status. The Ninth Circuit has sustained this argument, and the case is currently pending appeal. If the Supreme Court upholds the Ninth, ISPs that also happen to be telephone companies will not be subject to any regulations whatsoever.

If we lived in a sane world, the government would force such companies to divest their telephone business. You can either be a common carrier, or not; no straddling the line.

[Broomstick]

In 1984 the government broke the monopoly of AT&T into 8 different companies (some of you reading this wouldn't remember that, as you were not yet born). Perhaps it is time to do that again. But while the administration of Reagan broke a nationwide monopoly I don't expect the administration of Trump to restrain domineering corporations in any way.

I can't believe I'm getting nostalgic for Reagan!

[Zaune]

I can't believe I'm getting nostalgic for Reagan!

Reagan was before my time, but I must admit I've occasionally caught myself thinking Bush Jr wasn't all that bad by comparison lately.

I really, really hope I'm dead by the time time people are saying the same about Trump.

[Broomstick]

Given the way Trump is handling North Korea that may not be a consideration...

[Edi]

So what was that about the end of net neutrality not being a big deal?

Comcast, Cox, Frontier All Raising Internet Access Rates for 2018

Sure, you can argue that they would have raised prices anyway, but given what we already know about internet service provider quality in the US, would anyone believe that?

Comcast, Cox, Frontier All Raising Internet Access Rates for 2018
Paul Resnikoff, December 19, 2017

At least three major ISPs have already announced significant price hikes for 2018. News of the increases come just days after the FCC voted to roll back net neutrality protections.

The timing of this couldn’t be worse. But maybe that’s not a concern for major ISPs. Accordingly, at least three major ISPs have now announced rate hikes for 2018.

That is, January, 2018. So customers have very little time to react, modify their plans, or even cancel their accounts.

Just this morning, Karl Bode of DSLReports caught wind of numerous increases at mega-ISP Comcast. But that is simply the latest in a string of planned increases by the likes of Cox, Frontier, and even DirecTV and Dish Network.

In all cases, these are increases for essentially the same services, with Bode noting that American will be stuck paying ‘significantly more money for the same service in the new year’. In many cases, the changes are padded into existing bills, with most consumers failing to see the changes.

+ FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Faces Multiple Copyright Infringement Lawsuits — Starting With ‘Harlem Shake’

In the case of Comcast, increases are happening across the board.

That includes rates for conventional cable TV, but also a range of internet and internet-based services. “Even Comcast’s streaming TV service Instant TV, barely a year old, is seeing price hikes,” Bode noted.

“Users that subscribe to this service can expect to pay $3 to $3.50 more per month in the new year.”

Additionally, Comcast is jacking up its modem rental fees by 10%. “Modem rental fees will be bumped $1 to $11 per month, while missed payment fees are also being increased fifty cents to $10,” the report continues.

That’s likely the beginning of far broader increases.
Another major ISP, Cox, is increasing the rates for all of its internet service packages.

Here’s a quick rundown of those increases, based on a notice sent to Cox subscribers.

Starter will change from $34.99 to $36.99.
Essential will change from $52.99 to $55.99.
Preferred will change from $67.99 to $71.99.
Preferred 100 will change from $72.99 to $76.99.
Premier will change from $79.99 to $82.99.

That’s on top of a range of other increases affecting Cox’s cable TV packages, and are effective as of January, 2018. The rates were officially announced on December 9th, just days before net neutrality provisions were officially scrapped.
Similarly, Frontier Communications is tacking on a sneaky surcharge for internet customers.

Specifically, Frontier is wedging a $2 ‘Internet Infrastructure Surcharge’ onto most accounts. That includes promotional deals, which are advertised as being cheaper, but leave out a lot of hidden fees. “Beginning with this bill, customers not on an Internet Service term agreement, price protection plan or subject to other exclusions will be assessed a $1.99 per month Internet Infrastructure surcharge,” a Frontier notice states.
Other shoes dropping soon.

Both DirecTV and Dish are enacting heavy increases for most packages in 2018. At this stage, we’re not sure if packaged internet deals are getting affected (at least for 2018). Eventually, we’re betting they will.

We haven’t seen any (recent) changes from Charter, Verizon, and AT&T’s U-verse. But maybe they’re waiting until after Christmas.