Policy Analysis

Net Neutrality Legislation

What is Net Neutrality?

For years there has been growing national debate over the concept of internet freedom and what it entails. The debate revolves around what the proper role of government regulation should be and whether internet access should be legally classified as an opt-in service or a public utility. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), net neutrality is the concept that all data traffic should be treated indiscriminately, preventing internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking, slowing down, or speeding up the delivery of online content at their discretion. The idea is to eliminate ISPs from favoring certain websites, applications, or businesses above others, promoting equality for all users.    

Net Neutrality Policy

Neutrality first began gathering momentum in 2005 when the FCC began supporting the idea and prohibiting ISPs from blocking legal content or preventing users from connecting to the internet with their chosen devices. Many politicians went to bat to make net neutrality a reality and one of those politicians was President Barack Obama who fought for this legislation. As a result, in 2015, the FCC enacted rules to regulate ISPs under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934, which meant ISPs, like Comcast and AT&T, were treated and considered public utilities, like power and telephone companies. The FCC also published the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, placing Internet service providers under the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and a new regulatory framework was put in place, primarily focused on consumer protection. In 2017 the FCC rolled back the order despite congressional efforts to prevent the appeal. In 2018 Several state attorneys sued the FCC to repeal new rules and restore net neutrality. In 2019 the federal appeals court ruled that the FCC can reclassify ISPs as Tile I or II but they cannot block state- or local-level net neutrality environments. Multiple states, including California, Oregon, and Washington, have passed laws in favor of net neutrality principles, while several other states have passed executive orders banning state agencies from doing business with ISPs that don’t adhere to net neutrality ideals and principles. The bill came under fire from the Trump administration as they had pressed to have the legislation appealed. According to the Washington Post, “net neutrality has long been counted among their signature tech policy priorities. The party’s past presidential candidates, including Biden, have endorsed open-Internet rules, and Democrats’ official platform in 2020 once again included a commitment to penalize broadband providers who violate net neutrality principles.”

Stances On Neutrality

Many tech industries are mixed on the rules and regulations being imposed by net neutrality. Supporters believe that the Internet should remain free and open. The belief is that this is essential for a healthy exchange of ideas and knowledge, ethical business practices, fair competition, and creating the means to support creativity and innovation. However, net neutrality opponents maintain that government legislation on the internet is an unnecessary barrier to innovation and economic growth. They also argue the fact that consumers are already provided with a choice of using slower dial-up internet service or paying a premium price for faster speed over broadband, such as coaxial cable, DSL, or fiber optic services. They further state that ISPs prioritize some traffic in order to maintain quality of service because streaming services, such as Netflix, take up a large bandwidth hindering ISPs capabilities.

Impact on Cyber Security

One of the bigger cybersecurity threats to a potential rollback in net neutrality is the loss of privacy. “ISPs conduct content monitoring in order to filter and throttle traffic (Nachreiner, 2018).” In doing so, they have the capability to data mine your information and sell that data to the highest bidder without the user’s knowledge. An article written by Julian Weinberger, describes how the automotive industry may be subject to such data mining and a gross loss of privacy. The monetary gain from something like this could be worth more than the actual sale of the vehicle itself. If that data were to be exploited by unwanted third parties that could result in many consumers falling victim to cyber-attacks, phishing scams, etc. This could also result in injected ads turning into malware. ISPs have been known to forcefully inject ads and content into web traffic. Hackers may use this to their advantage by creating false ads and phishing scams to get users to click on harmful/malicious links. Another rising concern is the idea that ISPs may be attempting to hinder or eliminate the use of encryption services and VPNs. The fear is that ISPs would do so to force people to buy their services. They would eliminate third-party applications and look to further profit off of users. 

Despite some of the negative consequences associated with net neutrality being potentially repealed, there are some positives as well. Experts believe that ISPs would perform better without the unnecessary additions of regulations. ISPs would have the ability to better detect potential DDoS attacks or use anti-spoofing technology. ISPs would also have the ability to monitor and control some of the negative aspects that occur online and assist in preventing them.

References

  • Weinberger, J. (2018, July 6). Net neutrality reversal drives privacy concerns for connected car data. IoT Agenda. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.techtarget.com/iotagenda/blog/IoT-Agenda/Net-neutrality-reversal-drives-privacy-concerns-for-connected-car-data
  • National Conference of State Legislatures . (2022, May 4). Telecommunications and Information Technology. Telecommunications and Information Technology in Legislative Affairs. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology.aspx
  • Awati, R., & Gerwig, K. (2021, August 17). What is net neutrality and why is it controversial? SearchNetworking. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/Net-neutrality
  • ●       Nachreiner, C. (2018, August 8). What the repeal of net neutrality regulations means for cyber security. GeekWire. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.geekwire.com/2018/repeal-net-neutrality-regulations-means-cyber-security/
  • Romm, T. (2021, January 27). Pressure builds on Biden, Democrats to revive net neutrality rules. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/27/net-neutrality-biden-fcc/