Greg's Corner

Net Neutrality will not go quietly

Ever since FCC Chairman Ajit Pai repealed the regulations protecting net neutrality, the fight to have it restored has been an ongoing but uphill battle. While some of the news has been promising, there have been no victories so far. However, in this week’s news there have been so many stories regarding the fight for a free and open internet that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

For example, the state of Montana, a state that went to President Trump in the 2016 election, had their governor sign an executive order that forbids state agencies from doing business with any internet service provider that violates net neutrality practices. With state governments being a big customer for ISPs, this could definitely have huge repercussions for ISPs doing business in the state.

Also a number of stories have come out this week about how a many communities within the U.S. have built their own broadband networks. With the threat of paid prioritized traffic looming, many more communities are looking into this option as well, in order to better serve their citizens. Sadly, there are 20 states that have legislation in effect that largely hamper such efforts.

Some members of Congress have also not taken this lying down as they have petitioned the US Government Accountability Office to investigate the possibility of fraud and identity theft during the FCC’s net neutrality rule making process. If you’ll recall in the run up to net neutrality being repealed there were a number of public comments made in support of repealing the protections that were allegedly not made by the people who were said to have posted them.

Lastly, an unlikely ally in the fight for net neutrality and it’s Burger King of all places. They have released a video called ‘Whopper Neutrality’ that shows how Burger King’s synonymous Burgers can teach people about net neutrality.

If even a plastic headed burger mascot gets it, why doesn’t the FCC?

The internet was designed to be free and open to all and by this point should be considered a utility as it’s hard to get by in today’s world without it. It shouldn’t be controlled by a handful of corporate gatekeepers.