Given the volume (and nature) of pop-ups I receive when I use the Internet, I’ve always assumed it was an uncensored and unregulated forum. Clearly, that was a naïve assumption.
Yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled against the FCC, determining that they did not have the authority to establish net neutrality among internet service providers. Although the decision did not rule specifically on the principle of net neutrality, which we at the ACLU and MCLU consider the “First Amendment of the Internet”, it did create a setback to protection of the principle.
Net neutrality rightly extends our First Amendment rights to the realm of the internet. Like a public library, you should have equal access to an unknown novel by a local writer as well as a best-selling book recommended by Oprah’s Book Club; or equal access to books that promote capitalism versus books that promote communism; books that promote abstinence-only sexual education and books that entail comphrehensive sexual education. It also means that internet users can access a homegrown blog from Maine just as easily as a giant corporate site. The First Amendment protects our national marketplace of any and all ideas that have been contributed to the public square, and you, as an individual, have a right to pursue and access to those ideas, whichever end of the spectrum, or however obscure, they may be.
Unless, perhaps, you are a Comcast customer. Here’s why, as explained by The Washington Post:
“The FCC's predicament stems from a 2008 sanction against Comcast for violating the agency's open Internet guidelines, which were meant to force broadband providers to treat all network traffic equally, so as not to put any Web site at a disadvantage. In a 3 to 2 vote, the FCC found that Comcast had improperly slowed traffic to the BitTorrent file-sharing site and urged the company to halt the practice. It did not impose a fine.
Comcast appealed the FCC sanction, saying that the agency's order was outside the scope of its authority. The court agreed on Tuesday, saying the agency relied on laws that give it some jurisdiction over broadband services but not enough to make the action against Comcast permissible.”
In other words, the FCC had attempted to enforce net neutrality against Comcast, yet they did so under an area of the law that the court ruled they did not have the authority to enforce. This court decision should not deter the public’s nor the FCC’s dedication to enforcing net neutrality. The FCC still has the authority to protect internet users, but it exists in a different part of the law, through Title II of the Communications Act.
Just because you use Time Warner versus Comcast or any other provider should not mean you sacrifice your right to access all of the applications and content available on the internet. The FCC is accepting public comments until tomorrow, Thursday, April 8th at 1 PM. Please take a moment to tell the FCC that they should continue to enforce net neutrality and keep the internet free from broadband service provider censorship and regulation of internet content and applications. You can do through the MCLU’s Action Alert to the Chairman of the FCC, by clicking here, or by using the FCC’s complaint form on their website, which is available here.