Imagine a world where the next great war was fought online. According to speakers at General Assembly Boston, it’s a reality that might not be so far off.
Last Wednesday, General Assembly Boston gathered tech leaders to discuss the importance of net neutrality — the idea that the government should treat all internet data in the same way — in a conversation entitled, “Battle for Net Neutrality: Politics & Innovation.”
Alexandra Howley, marketing and partnerships lead at General Assembly Boston, said the organization hoped that inviting a variety of speakers would create diversity of opinion.
“We have invited many organizations to speak that are leveraging entrepreneurship as a means for economic empowerment,” Howley said. “We are trying to give a voice to underrepresented groups and this issue is largely an equality and accessibility issue. The preservation of net neutrality is vital to maintaining a level playing field.”
In practice, net neutrality ensures consumers’ freedom to access the internet content of their choosing without the manipulation of said content’s delivery. Without it, internet service providers could interfere with consumers’ browsing experiences in a manner similar to the ACLU’s hypothetical phone companies.
In the past, internet service providers, such as Comcast or Verizon, have been prohibited from dismantling net neutrality due to how they are legally classified. Now, Ajit Pai, the recently appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, is trying change that classification and do away with net neutrality, according to PBS.
Pai’s initiative to get rid of net neutrality has been met with national backlash. At GA Boston, local tech leaders shared their thoughts on the matter.
Anne Schwieger, broadband and digital equity advocate for the City of Boston, said she wants all of her constituents to be connected to the internet and to ensure that their privacy and access to a free and open internet is not determined by income.
“The internet that we want people to connect to, we want it to be one that is regulated in a pro-consumer way … a regulatory framework that protects the free and open internet,” Schwieger said.
Schwieger added that, in addition to guaranteeing access to a free and open internet, it is important to create a competitive market that drives down prices for consumers.
“Day to day, the work that we do also focuses a lot on advancing competition and choice in the city,” Schwieger said. “It is really important that people have options for their internet service provider, and the more options there are, ideally, the higher quality the service available to them and lower the price.”
Norman Guadagno, senior vice president of marketing at tech startup Carbonite, said that the dismantling of net neutrality could directly affect his business and other small businesses.
If net neutrality was lost, Guadagno said he believes that Carbonite, which provides its customers with data backup and recovery, would not be able to restore data for their customers in a timely fashion.
“For Carbonite, even a 1-second delay in our internet performance could degrade our service offering and threaten jobs, not just those of Carbonite employees, but small business jobs around the world who rely on Carbonite to get their business back up and running after a disaster,” Guadagno wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press.
As the discussion came to a close, Guadagno and Schwieger were asked how the average citizen, who may not pay close attention to internet speed, could get involved in ensuring their equal access to internet content.
Guadagno said that concerned citizens should “visit the Battle for the Net and Fight for the Future websites and sign up for their newsletters, which includes information about all the work being done to ensure that net neutrality protections continue.”
Schwieger said she believes getting involved with organizations fighting for net neutrality, like the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Media Justice, could go a long way.
“There is near consensus among private citizens as well as internet service providers that net neutrality is a great thing,” she said, “and important for the health of the internet and democracy.”
