FCC – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Medicine and Why Net Neutrality Matters

David Posnett — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 15:04:59 +0000

Published in The Doctor’s Tablet

by NANCY R. GLASSMAN, M.L.S., M.P.H, on DECEMBER 8, 2017

Recently, the library at Einstein, where I work as a medical librarian, experienced a momentary internet outage. In that instant everything seemed to stop in its tracks.

Medical students preparing to take their STEP 1 Board exams couldn’t finish their web-based practice tests. Ph.D. candidates couldn’t download the journal articles they needed in preparation for writing their theses. Faculty members were unable to download data sets sent from collaborators across the country. Librarians were interrupted in the middle of presenting a webinar about searching for clinical research studies in PubMed to medical residents at our university hospital across town. The frustration was palpable.

After what seemed like forever―but was in reality just a few minutes―access was restored. Life, as we typically know it, resumed.

This moment and the disruption it caused illustrate how essential fast, reliable internet access is to nearly everything we do in the library and at the medical school in support of education, research and patient care.

It’s also the first thing I thought of when, just before Thanksgiving, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)―led by its chair, Ajit Pai―presented detailed plans for dismantling network neutrality.

Network neutrality in action
“Net neutrality” refers to the concept that internet service providers (ISPs) should handle all data―no matter its source, destination or content―traveling through their networks in the same way. This means that individuals, community-based organizations, small businesses, educational institutions, public libraries, government agencies and large corporations are all sending and receiving information at the same speeds and levels of quality. In 2015, the FCC adopted a set of rules designed to protect net neutrality. These rules were affirmed by a federal appeals court ruling in 2016.

Because of our reliance on the internet, the current debate regarding the future of net neutrality deeply concerns me. Removing the current protections for the public that net neutrality represents could impede internet access to the web by imposing slower speeds and higher costs. Access to educational and non-profit websites could be deprioritized in favor of commercial websites. Without net neutrality, the scientific and academic community would be subject to the whims and biases of those in power and the profit margins sought by ISPs in control of internet access.

Net neutrality is essential to education today
I’ve worked as a medical librarian in an academic health science library for more than 25 years. During that time, I’ve been directly involved in the move from print to a primarily online environment. Open and equal access to information, no matter its source, is vital to the primary mission of my library, whether it is supporting education, laboratory research or patient care. At a time when budgets are tighter than ever, the possibility of having to pay more for access to electronic resources could result in a reduction in online subscriptions.

This issue also brings to mind the digital divide. I think about my colleagues at the local branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL, which serves as the primary internet access point for many members of the community. These people use the library’s computers and Wi-Fi network in connection with many aspects of their lives, including homework, research, literacy training and applying for jobs. Like those of other public libraries, the NYPL’s mission could be jeopardized by the administration’s proposal.

Earlier this year, many organizations in the library, education and science fields took a civilized stand in support of net neutrality by submitting comments to the FCC. Among those lending their voices to protecting net neutrality is a coalition of leadership associations in higher education, including the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE.

Other organizations have also voiced concerns over the FCC chair’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order. Yet informed conversations on this topic have largely been overshadowed by disheartening rancor and abusive language directed toward Mr. Pai. This only weakens the cause of net neutrality. Those wishing to comment should first learn more about the importance of neutrality through these statements from the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, and the scientific journal PLoS and use them to make a well-reasoned case.

On December 14, 2017, the FCC’s five commissioners are scheduled to vote on Mr. Pai’s new draft order. If they approve the order, it will drastically change the way we access the internet resources we rely on daily and our ability to connect and communicate effectively and efficiently. Although the FCC is not currently accepting comments, there is still time to add our voices to those supporting protection of net neutrality. Contact your representatives using this customizable email form from the American Library Association to let them know how important fair and equal access to information is to you.

The Open Internet Rule expands online streaming video options

David Posnett — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 14:07:31 +0000

From BROOKINGS.EDU/TECHTANK

Tom Wheeler Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The front-page story in The Wall Street Journal announced, “Walt Disney Co. just became the biggest cord-cutter Hollywood has ever seen.” The iconic company announced it was starting two online streaming services that will bypass its traditional cable television distribution.

Thank you, Open Internet Rule!

The move to offer ESPN and Disney content direct to consumers, “rather than through [cable] services that…serve as gatekeepers to audiences” follows on the success of other direct-to-consumer broadband services such as CBS All-Access.

The sine qua non that made it all possible was the FCC Open Internet Rule that the cable operators cannot deny, degrade or deprioritize Disney access to their broadband service, even when it is competitive to their cable service. This is the very same rule that the Trump FCC, at the request of the lobbyists for the big broadband companies, has announced an intention to eliminate. And the very same rule that Republican legislators are pushing content providers to help them scuttle.

Fascinatingly, one of the Open Internet’s biggest opponents, AT&T, also benefits from the Open Internet rule preventing AT&T’s DirecTV service – a direct competitor to cable – from being discriminated against on a cable system’s broadband capacity.

Yet, the Republicans in Congress and the Trump FCC continue to push to eviscerate the rule that is the law of the land and working quite well.

“Republican House leadership told Facebook, Google and Amazon that overly aggressive net neutrality activism [i.e., opposition to the Republican gutting effort] could make it harder to work together on other policy issues the firms care about,” Axios reported. If this were The Godfather instead of Washington, such a threat would be called extortion.

And speaking of The Godfather, the genius behind it, Francis Ford Coppola, wrote the Trump FCC in opposition to their effort to gut the existing rules. “The Internet was conceived and designed to be a free medium, with network neutrality assured and the resurgent power of big business held in check on behalf of the public’s greater interests. Coppola wrote, “I assure you that none of the films I or my contemporaries are known and celebrated for could exist today in such a climate.”

Despite the Republicans’ holy war in behalf of the half a dozen broadband Internet Service Providers (ISP) who dominate the market, the benefits from the Open Internet Rule accrue to everyone.

Consumers – who seldom have a choice between competing ISPs – benefit because the broadband providers are prohibited from acting as gatekeepers, determining what consumers see and assessing extra charges for certain services (like they do when operating as cable companies).

Innovators and the growth economy that produces half of all new American jobs benefit because they have open access to the entire online marketplace without having to worry that the broadband company would charge them extra or favor a deep-pocketed incumbent who could pay a special fee – or even, as increasingly the case, favor the ISP’s own video content.

Americans’ choice of video programming has exploded thanks to open access to online households. The critics talk of a golden age of scripted drama. It is happening because producers like Netflix and Amazon Prime – and now Disney – can reach consumers directly through an open Internet.

Even the handful of broadband companies that control most Americans’ access to the Internet, yet oppose meaningful Open Internet rules, have seen their revenues, profits, and stock prices rise since the rule was adopted.

Now venerable Walt Disney, home of everything from ESPN to Star Wars, is set to benefit from unfettered broadband access to American consumers that is enabled by the Open Internet Rule. Not only will the ISPs not be able to block, throttle or deprioritize Disney’s traffic, but also the so-called General Conduct part of the Rule prevents clever lawyers from inventing loopholes from the continuing obligation to provide open access.

The Open Internet Rule – especially the General Conduct Rule portion – is like Disney’s famous character Jiminy Cricket, who acted as Pinocchio’s conscience. As the Jiminy Cricket of the Internet Age, the Open Internet Rule sits on the shoulder of broadband providers to make sure they do the right thing.

Editor’s Note:

Tom Wheeler served as the 31^st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013-2017, during which time the FCC passed the Open Internet Rule.