APRIL 2018: Hello again, everyone! In this month’s column, I will focus on possible new regulations that could negatively impact individuals with and without disabilities. The topic of discussion is net neutrality: what is it, why is it important, and why might this become a thing of the past. In 2003 Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor, originally coined the term net neutrality. A simple definition of the term from Wikipedia is as follows: the principle that governments should mandate Internet service providers to treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. In other words, any large Internet Service Provider, such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, etc. does not have the authority to block Internet content, which allows everyone to receive equal access to information, in spite of the cost they pay for Internet service. While the net neutrality law was still in effect, Comcast, Verizon, and others tried to force customers to pay high Internet prices or slow down website speeds, but the FCC blocked these company’s actions from occurring.
      The principle of net neutrality was first implemented in 2005. From this point through December 2017, the chair of the FCC made a drastic reversal to create a major blow to the idea of equal access to all content for everyone. Once the vote was cast, some states started to try and block this new regulation. The date for net neutrality to be abolished is towards the end of this month, but high-ranking individuals are testifying to Congress and doing whatever else they can for this to not take effect. If the anti-net neutrality law goes off without difficulty and is implemented, this can be compared to stripping all US citizens with disabilities equal access to public spaces, employment, and recreation and eliminate the ADA altogether. The anti-net neutrality ruling forces government and Internet companies to take advantage of customers who pay lower Internet fees to receive a skewed amount of Internet content and an unfair advantage for those who might have to pay more expensive bills for top tier services.
      For individuals with disabilities, surfing the Web will become more difficult, and in an article by Motherboard Voice, it discusses how the FCC chairman Ajit Pai falsely claims eliminating net neutrality will improve disabled individuals’ lives. AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast continued to claim that net neutrality rules were negatively affecting their profits and investments. The article gives a specific example of how Comcast falsely claimed in 2010 that net neutrality rules were hurting rather than helping disabled individuals. They stated a specific product created by the company allows hearing-impaired or Deaf individuals to receive instant written subtitles in real time. This required Internet prioritization, in other words, high definition video that is more expensive and should be available free of charge to anyone who requires this service. However, Comcast claimed disabled individuals wouldn’t be able to afford these higher costs, since they wished to charge more expensive fees. The ruling, though, was thankfully eliminated.
      Just the other day, I happened to read an article explaining an Aira employee’s testimony to Congress regarding Internet prioritization video speeds. It would not only decrease video speeds for blind Aira users, it would also change the way everyone uses live real time video for conferencing, watching live events, and other tasks we take for granted when using the Internet. These two examples of altering net neutrality rules only scratch the surface of how using the Internet, as we know it, might become a luxury rather than receiving equal access for all.
      As the date of reversing this ruling nears, hopefully there will continue to be a push in the direction to not allow the FCC to make such a harsh ruling, providing the edge to the large Internet companies. We will soon see what transpires.
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