Net Neutrality & You The Federal Government Wants to Control Internet Pricing What possible could go wrong?

What is Net Neutrality? The Claim “…it says that an entrepreneur's fledgling company should have the same chance to succeed as established corporations, and that access to a high school student's blog shouldn't be unfairly slowed down to make way for advertisers with more money.?”

What is Net Neutrality? Questions - How did the Internet work before net neutrality and why do my students believe we have to have more regulation?

What is The Internet? There are two parts: This: The “Highways” And This: The back roads (Pic - Daily Mirror, UK)

Please remember the following during this talk: What is The Internet? Please remember the following during this talk: The “Highways” are high-capacity and paid for by governments and companies The “Back Roads” are lower capacity and paid for by ultimately paid for consumers of internet services

What is Net Neutrality? Sold on The Fear that big companies would squelch the traffic of small companies & competitors – a proactive regulation Belief that large Internet Providers such as AT&T would use their monopoly power to control what you view The explanation changed depending on which document you read – The White House Statement – Advertising dollars. The media – throttle the speed of competitors.

An Opinion “Government doesn’t set rules for pricing and doesn’t mandate equal access for everyone, there must be something wrong!”

Basics: Pre-Net Neutrality – The Federal Trade Commission For 20 years (with far fewer choices, slower speeds and more bottlenecks) the Internet worked

Basics: Post-Net Neutrality – The Federal Communications Commission will regulate internet connectivity using the same authority that was developed for monopolies, common carriers such as Ma Bell (AT&T)

What is Net Neutrality? Biggest Difference – Without Title II, the government reacts to complaints & problems – the FTC steps in With Title II the government can impose controls without demonstrating harm or benefit

What is Net Neutrality? Net Neutrality’s biggest assumption: You are “stuck” with a provider that limits your choices, or you won’t leave a provider that limits your choices?

Choices Today in Montgomery County - Verizon FIOS, Comcast, every cell phone carrier From Verizon Wireless: Verizon 4G LTE wireless broadband … download speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps (Megabits per second)

And Tomorrow: “SpaceX's Starlink constellation, a network of several thousand satellites in Earth orbit that the company envisions providing low-cost internet service to people around the world. … up and running, at least in a limited capacity, by 2020.

Who is for Net Neutrality? Facebook & Google (Alphabet) Who is against? AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast Why?

Opinion from group Public Knowledge the FCC is “joining forces with the FTC to say it will only act when a broadband provider is deceiving the public. This gives free reign to broadband providers to block or throttle your broadband service as long as they inform you.” *Bolding added *https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-internet/u-s-agency-prepares-to-hand-over-internet-oversight-to-ftc-idUSKBN1E52N9

But Do Companies Pay For Faster Access – You Bet! Video requires more resources, bandwidth – it uses more of the highway and requires quicker response than web, email, music.. NetFlix paid Comcast for faster access Analogy – Express lanes on I-495 and I-66

Have Providers Blocked Traffic? Yes, 2000-2010 there were examples Internet phone (VOIP) – Charged extra for it! Why pay for phone calls when less expensive over the internet? Early file sharing apps – huge (for then) bandwidth for their times Favoring some customers – Xbox over Netflix (Comcast)

Net Neutrality in Other Countries From Wikipedia: “On 8 February 2016, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) banned differential pricing of data services…” Facebook had offered free Internet to citizens of India, many of whom are desperately poor, with better access to some parts of Internet India blocked it – activists claimed there shouldn’t be “two tiers” of internet access.

If These Rules Existed in 1900, What Would Radio & TV Be Like Today? The first radio stations in the US were supported by advertising – for the makers of radio receivers and for stores Does anyone remember the “Fairness Doctrine” or Religious Programming on Sundays? What lessons can we learn from this?

Opinion The U.S. seems to “Innovate, Fix, Innovate Again…” Public Opinion is a monster that keeps many firms in line The FTC has authority and most people have choices, more will have choices in 5 years My Internet career – 1995 to date – model has worked better than in any other country

And Change is Coming to Electric Power – Do we need to protect Pepco? The Threat – “Solar Shingles” from Tesla

Electricity was a monopoly, few choices Within 5 years it will make economic sense to use “solar shingles” and drop power costs to under 3 cents/KwH, vs 12 cents from PEPCO, BG&E Batteries are cheap, within 5 years will handle peak load. What lessons can we learn from the comparison?

References Obama White House, Net Neutrality https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/323681 Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 https://transition.fcc.gov/Reports/1934new.pdf Internet Maps https://www.vox.com/a/internet-maps SpaceX Internet https://www.space.com/39733-spacex-launching-internet-satellites-used-rocket-watch-live.html Netflix pays Comcast https://qz.com/256586/the-inside-story-of-how-netflix-came-to-pay-comcast-for-internet-traffic/ Wikipedial – Net Neutrality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality Facebook in India https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/08/india-facebook-free-basics-net-neutrality-row

Capitol Technology University Thank You! Professor Rick Hansen Capitol Technology University www.captechu.edu rhhansen@captechu.edu