2019-01-01_Discover

Net neutrality:

Internet speed

and access is

the same for

everyone

Tiered internet:

Providers can block

or slow speeds

unless you pay a

premium price

78 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

FROM LEFT: ALISON MACKEY/DISCOVER AND MUSHAKESA/SHUTTERSTOCK; COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION ARTS AND SCIENCES/MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

POLICY

Net neutrality

rules, which

barred internet

service provid-

ers from block-

ing or slowing access to content

of their choosing, expired in June

after the Federal Communications

Commission repealed them in late

2017. Supporters of net neutrality
      are concerned that this could
      threaten the free and open nature
      of the internet: The net neutrality
      regulations may have had room
      for improvement, but repealing
      them altogether eliminated
      protections that kept service
      providers from favoring wealthier
      users and potentially discriminat-
      ing against those who can’t
      afford to pay for better services.
      Discover spoke with Johannes
      Bauer, a researcher at Michigan
      State University who studies how
      management of information
      technologies — like net neutrality
      rules — affects society.

Q

+A

Q

How might the lack of these

net neutrality regulations

now affect us as individuals and

as a society?

A

It could be that the network

operators now start to bundle

services in different ways, and they

may be willing to offer discounts

for bundles that include, let’s say,

a certain search service provider

and a certain video service provider

or a music service. They will use

economic incentives, lower prices

for subscribers, and sell customized

packages, and that would

undermine the free and open idea

of the internet.

Q

So, content providers like

Netflix and Hulu already

offer subscription services that

have different prices for different

packages. Why should we be

concerned that internet service

providers could do the same

thing?

A

Because [internet service]

providers can bundle with

network access service, that gives

them way more power than any one

of the pure content providers would

have. Once you subscribe, once

you decide on one internet service

provider, that one provider becomes

a bottleneck because it’s the only

pipe to your house.

Q

If this bundling expands

beyond entertainment

services, internet service

providers could begin to control

what news media we have access

to. Why is this a concern for

news or similar information?

A

The ability of individuals to

explore and compare different

news sources might actually, over

time, shrink because now you

only have one particular flow of

information. That might again

give [network providers] power

to influence what people know

and how people experience what’s

going on in the world in ways that

are, in the long run, detrimental

to democracy.

Net Neutrality’s Gone. What Does This Mean?

Johannes Bauer