{"id":47052,"date":"2014-09-08T12:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T11:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=47052"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:37","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:37","slug":"get-ready-for-the-internet-slowdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/09\/get-ready-for-the-internet-slowdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Ready for the \u2018Internet Slowdown\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next Wednesday, Sept. 10 [2014], if your favorite website seems to load slowly, take a closer look: You might be experiencing the Battle for the Net\u2019s \u201cInternet Slowdown,\u201d a global day of grass-roots action. <\/em><\/p>\n

Protesters won\u2019t actually slow the Internet down, but will place on their websites animated \u201cLoading\u201d graphics (which organizers call \u201cthe proverbial \u2018spinning wheel of death\u2019\u201d) to symbolize what the Internet might soon look like. As that wheel spins, the rules about how the internet works are being redrawn. Large Internet service providers, or ISPs, like Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T and Verizon are trying to change the rules that govern your online life.<\/p>\n

The fight over these rules is being waged now. These corporate ISPs want to create a two-tiered Internet, where some websites or content providers pay to get preferred access to the public. Large content providers like Netflix, the online streaming movie giant, would pay extra to ensure that their content traveled on the fast lane. But let\u2019s say a startup tried to compete with Netflix. If it couldn\u2019t afford to pay the large ISPs their fees for the fast lane, their service would suffer, and people wouldn\u2019t subscribe.<\/p>\n

The Internet is protected from this two-tiered, discriminatory practice through regulated \u201cnet neutrality,\u201d the fundamental principle of the Internet that allows any user to access Web content freely without any corporation censoring the content or slowing down the connection. Because so much of the world\u2019s Internet traffic passes through the United States, the way that the U.S. regulates the Internet impacts the entire planet. Sadly, the state of Internet regulation in the U.S., under the Obama administration\u2019s Federal Communications Commission, is in crisis. The Obama-appointed FCC chair, Tom Wheeler, has proposed new rules for the Internet that would effectively do away with net neutrality, allowing large ISPs to create these separate fast lanes and slow lanes.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look further at the example of Netflix. Streaming video depends on ample bandwidth. Customers with Internet at home provided by Comcast were complaining that their Netflix video was streaming poorly, with frequent buffering. So, last February, Netflix agreed to pay Comcast for \u201cpaid prioritization,\u201d meaning Netflix Internet traffic would flow to the customers faster than other Internet traffic, on a fast lane. Since then, Netflix has inked similar deals with AT&T, Verizon and Time-Warner. VHX is a small, New York-based video-streaming startup company. VHX\u2019s CEO, Jamie Wilkinson, expressed his concern, writing on the VHX blog: \u201cThe companies with which we compete\u2014Apple, Amazon, Google, the cable companies themselves\u2014can afford to pay for a \u2018fast lane\u2019 … We do not have that luxury.\u201d VHX will \u201clive or die\u201d he wrote, based on the strength of net neutrality rules.<\/p>\n

Corporate censorship is also a concern. Let\u2019s say you advocate for union rights, in support of striking workers. A large Internet service provider could block your website, denying the public access to critical information. This is not hypothetical. In Canada in 2005, workers at the corporate ISP Telus went on strike. One of the strikers developed a website, Voices for Change, which supported the strike. Telus denied its Internet customers access to the website until the corporate censorship became national news. But if large ISPs get their way, this type of censorship could become routine.<\/p>\n

In conjunction with the Sept. 10 \u201cInternet Slowdown,\u201d organizers are promising to \u201cdrive record numbers of emails and calls to lawmakers.\u201d The Sunlight Foundation analyzed 800,000 comments already filed on this issue with the FCC. Of those, 99 percent supported strict rules protecting net neutrality. The protest organizers are demanding that Internet service be reclassified as a public utility, like telephone service. Imagine if the phone company were allowed to downgrade the quality of your phone call because you didn\u2019t pay for the premium service. With nondiscrimination rules governing utilities, people get the same service. Currently, the FCC has labeled the Internet as an \u201cinformation service,\u201d subject to less-restrictive consumer protections.<\/p>\n

The FCC has long been considered a \u201ccaptured agency,\u201d beholden to the corporations it is supposed to regulate. Unfortunately, before becoming FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler enjoyed a long career as the top lobbyist for both the cellular phone industry and the cable industry. In previous battles over Internet governance, massive public outcry has prevailed. If the power of the people fails this time to overwhelm the power of corporate money in Washington, D.C., then the \u201cInternet Slowdown,\u201d far from being a one-day protest, may become a constant condition. Whatever position you take, email President Barack Obama and FCC chairman Tom Wheeler\u2014while you still can.<\/p>\n

____________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.<\/em><\/p>\n

Amy Goodman is the host of \u201cDemocracy Now!,\u201d a daily international TV\/radio news hour airing on more than 1,200 stations in North America. She is the co-author of \u201cThe Silenced Majority,\u201d a New York Times best-seller.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Amy Goodman. Distributed by King Features Syndicate <\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 truthdig.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next Wednesday, Sept. 10 [2014], if your favorite website seems to load slowly, take a closer look: You might be experiencing the Battle for the Net\u2019s \u201cInternet Slowdown,\u201d a global day of grass-roots action. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}