Net Neutrality Protests: 5 Things To Know

WASHINGTON, DC — Protesters opposing the rollback of net neutrality rule plan to demonstrate outside Verizon stores across the country Thursday as the Trump administration pushes forward with its plan to deregulate internet service providers.

The protests were organized by the group called "Team Internet," which opposes the administration's policies. Hundreds reportedly intend to join protests at some locations, such as in New York City. Others are likely to have far fewer.

Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has announced he's weakening the government's oversight of internet service providers. Proponents of net neutrality have argued that companies like Verizon and Comcast should not be able to discriminate between different forms of content on the internet. They think internet users should be granted access to all online content equally.

Pai previously worked as a lawyer for Verizon, which is why the protests were organized around the company's storefronts.

"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set on killing net neutrality rules that keep the Internet free from censorship, throttling, and extra fees," Team Internet said on its website. "But if we show Congress a massive groundswell of support for the open Internet, *they* can stop the FCC, and prevent the passage of ISP-backed legislation that ends net neutrality forever."

Pai and others argue, however, that the fears about moving away from net neutrality are exaggerated. They also say that net neutrality regulations impose significant costs on internet providers that ultimately hurt consumers.

Here are five things to know about net neutrality:

1. The net neutrality rules were put into place in 2015 under President Obama.

Preserving net neutrality become a major priority of the Obama administration in its later years. Ideally, the administration would have liked to have passed legislation enshrining the protections into law, but the initiative lacked support in a Republican-dominated Congress. That's how the previous leadership of FCC ended up enacting net neutrality rules that the Trump administration is now unraveling.

2. Advocates of net neutrality worry internet service providers could play favorites.

One worry people have about the end of net neutrality is that internet service providers may decide to favor their own properties over their competitors.

Verizon, for example, owns Yahoo. Without rules requiring Verizon to treat all websites equally, the company might make Google pages load very slowly for its users, while providing top speed to anyone going to Yahoo. Since more people prefer using Google to Yahoo, this could be a significant disadvantage for customers while increasing Verizon's market power.

Google supports the current rules, saying in statement they "are working well for consumers" and that the company is "disappointed in the proposal announced today."

3. Critics of net neutrality are skeptical of the dire predictions.

There are two reasons people like Pai aren't very concerned about internet service providers throttling speeds to disadvantage their competitors. First, they argue that internet companies will still largely be driven to provide their customers with good service. And second, the FCC's new rules will force companies like Verizon to be transparent about their practices — and they would surely face a public backlash for trying to disadvantage Google users.

However, some internet users have few, if any, choices among service providers. Lack of choice limits the ability for customers to punish internet service providers who adopt policies they dislike.

4. Some argue there will be upsides to the end of net neutrality.

Tyler Cowen, a prominent economist and blogger, said he previously supported net neutrality but now believes it's not an important principle. In a recent Bloomberg editorial, he argued that allowing service providers to prioritize certain forms of internet content, as opposed to treating it all equally, could benefit consumers.

Pai argues that allowing internet service providers a freer hand would make it easier to expand networks to people who do not yet have access to high-quality internet connections.

"These heavy-handed regulations have made it harder for the private sector to build out the networks, especially in rural America," Pai said.

5. We don't know what will happen without net neutrality.

While the different sides argue about the costs and benefits of net neutrality, the fundamental fact is that it's not clear what a world without the current rules would look like. Even if some internet service providers are secretly plotting to try to use the new freedoms to crush competitors, those efforts may fail. The promised benefits from Pai and others may be illusory as well.

The world of the internet after net neutrality remains the realm of speculation, and there may be many important questions that will only be answered if and when it arrives.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images