Reversing the Revolution

The end of net neutrality would shift the online revolution into reverse. If the nation's largest telephone and cable companies are allowed to limit the fastest services to those who can pay their toll, the rest of us — upstart Web services, consumers, bloggers and new media makers alike — will become blocked from digital-age innovations.

The companies that control the pipes want to discriminate in favor of their own applications, while shutting out or slowing down competing services. These companies have a business incentive to create their own affiliates to compete with the most popular applications — like search engines, voice-over-the-Internet, and streaming video archives.

They now seek to pad their pockets further by becoming gatekeepers to all things digital — deciding what content, applications and services we can use. The telco and cable giants — which dominate 98 percent of the broadband market — not only expect consumers to pay to access the Internet, but they want to charge content producers for using their wires to deliver it.

To get a sense of the bargain the industry is proposing, imagine if the maker of your toaster had to give a cut of the sales price to the electric company before it could be turned on. Or suppose the post office charged you to mail and receive the same package if you wanted it sent first class.

Soon all media — TV, telephone, radio and the Web — will be delivered via a broadband connection. But the future of the Internet will decided offline in the corridors of Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. As our representatives rewrite the Telecommunications Act, Free Press is fighting to preserve the digital commons that Americans rely upon to participate in our democracy.

Find out more:

Net Neutrality Policy

Glossary of Terms: Untangling Broadband Jargon


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