Wednesday, November 22, 2017

This Is the End of the Internet

Offer up your best defense, but it won't be good enough.
After a vote in May to begin the termination of Internet Neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to vote on a final set of standards in December to allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to do whatever they want with the World Wide Web - which means charging customers more for service, charging Web sites a premium for faster downloads, and blocking some Web sites - including blogs - altogether.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai says that companies will be free to innovate and to expand service without what he calls the government's "heavy-handed" regulation of the Internet.  The only thing the service providers have to, er, provide to customers in return for unlimited abilities to limit Internet access is an easily accessible Web site spelling out their content policy in an effort to provide "transparency."  Violations of this rule could allow Uncle Charlie (that would be the FCC) to fine the ISPs.
Any fines, of course, would probably be the equivalent of paying a 25-cent fine for dumping garbage on someone's property.  (Arlo Guthrie, remember, had to pay fifty dollars for that back in 1965, which would be about $390 today.)  
Regulation of the Internet would be transferred mostly to the Federal Trade Commission, an acknowledgement that Pai considers the Internet to be a commercial enterprise, not a public medium.  Just to make it clear - giving the Federal Trade Commission regulatory control of the Internet is like giving  an octogenarian security officer the authority to arrest a bank robber. 
This marks the end of the Internet as we know it - and I feel awful.  Money-making companies that provide Internet service - I ain't namin' names! - now have carte blanche to restrict and block Web sites and blogs that they don't like.  Do you have a Black Lives Matter advocacy site?  Sorry, your Internet service provider's CEO may have a problem with black people making trouble over the police.  Does your site advocate for high-speed rail?  Whoops, your ISP owns a television network with a lot of ad accounts from automakers.  Forget about it.  Do you oppose Trump?  You get the idea.
Oh, your ISP might let you access some sites they find questionable - for a price.  So if you see a 50 percent increase in your Internet connection fee, that will explain it.  Of course, you might be able to buy a premium package to get the same basic service you get now.  You just won't be able to afford the mortgage on your house.  And if you live in a state with a Democratic governor, don't expect him or her to try to regulate the Internet and preserve the old regulations within your state's borders; Pai has made it clear that state enforcement of Internet neutrality will not be allowed.
If I may use another analogy, ISP control of the Internet will be the equivalent of the anecdotal story I heard about newsstands in a hotel chain run by Mormons (again, I ain't namin' names!); it is said that the chain's bosses ensure that magazines such as the Atlantic, the New Republic, and Harper's don't appear in the newsstands in their hotels' lobbies.  (They apparently contract the Mormon Church's Word of Wisdom.)  A lot of people don't like Pai's rule change, but they are too powerless to stop it; the Republicans have a majority on the FCC's board and so hold all the cards.  I've heard about threats to file suits against the dismantling of Net neutrality, but whom can anyone sue?
I really don't know if my blog, given all of the controversial opinions I've expressed on it (like my hatred for rap), would be subjected to censorship, but my gut tells me that my ISP may not have a problem with it.  But yours might.  If it turns out that too many ISPs are blocking my blog, I suppose I could terminate it and start a new opinion blog under a pseudonym - say, "Kevin McClaine" - but as soon as Kevin McClaine started posting numerous blog entries supporting Martin O'Malley's presidential prospects in 2020, they'd know it was me.       
So I don't know what to tell you.  Except, welcome to the new era of Internet censorship.  When you go online after December 14, you may not get to access the Web sites you want.
But you'll get to look at a lot of this. :-(
(Note: To make it clear, www.action-now.com is not a real Web site.  But this is what you might start seeing from a lot of Web sites that are real. >:-(   )

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