Net Neutrality: The Little-Known Protector of Digital Citizens

Whether browsing Facebook, researching, or trolling the depths of the net, the Internet has become nearly inseparable from our daily lives. One of the great things about the Internet is net neutrality: the equal treatment of all data on the Internet by governments and Internet service providers (ISPs). This means that internet providers like Telecom Italia and Wind cannot force users to pay extra to use websites like Google, Facebook, or Wikipedia. They also can’t slow down Internet speeds for specific websites or applications. On top of protecting consumers from exorbitant prices, net neutrality helps protect the very essence of free Internet, a medium that allows everyone to create and post anything for all to see. Without net neutrality, smaller websites would most likely go out of business, not being able to pay ISP’s extra money to have their content sent out to the public.

While net neutrality may seem like an obvious and integral aspect of the Internet, most of the public don’t even realize what it is. Now, this wouldn’t be such an issue if most governments protected it. However, around the world, many governments haven’t set specific rules to protect net neutrality, most of them not having altered their laws since the popularization of the Internet. In fact, the United States of America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC), that governs communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable, only recently, on the 26th of February 2015, passed laws protecting net neutrality.

The European Union however has yet to come to a ruling on net neutrality, with many member states having conflicting opinions on the topic. Italy, along with Spain and others, follow an anti-net neutrality stand, aiming to appease their telecommunications market. This was evident from last terms President of the Council of the European Union, Matteo Renzi, who attempted to limit the definition of net neutrality throughout the EU. This was met with opposition from many parties, in particular members of the European Digital Rights group, claiming Renzi was “backpedaling on meaningful net neutrality protections.”

With discussions still being held amongst the European Union, telecommunications companies are spending inordinate amounts of money lobbying for countries to abolish or nullify these rules, and some countries are listening. Without citizens to fight for net neutrality, the future of the Internet will most likely become one of increased prices, stifled innovation and lackluster content. We hope that like the U.S, Europe will hear their citizens and follow in suit to protect us digital citizens.