Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must 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. For instance, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, slow down or charge money for specific websites and online content.(wikepedia, net neutrality).
According to new york times, Washington, An industry group that represents the country’s biggest technology companies said on Friday(5th janaury, 2018 )that it planned to join a looming legal fight against the Federal Communications Commission over its repeal of so-called net neutrality rules.
In its announcement, the group, the Internet Association, made clear for the first time that Facebook, Google, Netflix and other large tech firms would put their reputations and financial clout behind the challenge.
Lawsuits seeking to block the commission’s new policy, which was approved in December, are expected in the weeks ahead, once the rules take effect. The rules will let internet service providers block online content, or charge websites for faster delivery to consumers, by rolling back the protections against such actions that were adopted in 2015. On Friday, a day after the commission released the 539-page final rules, the Internet Association said it would join the coming legal case against them. The commissioner however said nothing on this matter.
“We’ll be going to court soon to challenge the F.C.C. and ramping up pressure on Congress to throw the rules out altogether,” said Craig Aaron, president of Free Press. Mr. Pai(chairman of the federal communcations commision, he said, had “awakened the public.”
The strong response to the repeal has also led to some safety concerns. At the commission meeting where the new rules were approved, law enforcement officials briefly cleared the room to address an unspecified security issue.
Mr. Pai canceled a scheduled appearance at the tech industry’s CES trade show next week. The commission declined to say why he would not attend, but has previously confirmed that he and his family had recently received threats by phone and email over the net neutrality issue.
What then is the consequence for internet users and individuals who can not access WiFi services but use mobile data subscription? Data consuming applications like Netflix and facebook will be strongly affected if this battle is not worn. And yet again this is also a ray of hope for upcoming developers who haven’t had the opportunity to share their products and services due to the undue advantages other big companies have. The battle for #NetNeutrality continues.
