The internet is doomed

I feel like the concern about the incoming Net Neutrality decision, while justified, might be a little bit on the side of doomsaying.

For those who somehow are reading this blog without having heard already, the FCC is voting to undo a number of rules that protect a free and open internet, opening the way for companies to throttle, or block, sites and services they don't like, as well as charge for limited access to the web, the implications are broader than that and the powers the companies will gain aren't limited to just what I mentioned, but you get the idea.

It's pretty dire, but perhaps not the end of free speech on the internet as we know it. The FCC claims that the protections it is stripping are redundant and guaranteed by the FTC so therefore nothing is actually getting weaker, this isn't a complete lie, except the FTC is more or less toothless and historically hasn't enforced the regulations it has reliably, but it is at least theoretically possible it could begin to do so.

Practically speaking though I think there are some obstacles to internet in the USA becoming a (more) Orwellian nightmare, first off I don't think companies are going to instantly change every single plan we are on overnight, more likely they will simply stop offering the current plans to new customers or those changing services and begin to roll out limited access plans instead, calling them cost effective solutions or something, and for many they will be, remember most users of the internet don't know or care what net neutrality is or why they should be for it, as long as they can shop on Amazon and check Twitter they are fine.

So the decline will likely be slow, and I think it will also likely be followed by a return to the status quo we have now as companies begin to learn that many consumers will pay extra for unrestricted internet access, if that doesn't happen then some company like Google is likely to push into the market offering exactly that, it is even theoretically possible that this could touch off a price war that ends up with most plans on the market being nominally like we have now, but actually costing less.

Of course, what the companies tell us they are offering and what they actually do offer in practice will be separate things, and even the unlimited plans that claim to be like what is on the market now will have their limitations in the form of throttling or site blacklisting based on the carriers opinions.

I am not trying to claim this decision will make things better by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think it spells the death knell for grass roots activism and free speech on the internet that some are suggesting, more likely everything just gets a little shittier and we don't even notice the options we are missing because those options have been scrubbed from what is offered to us.

This should be terrifying to anyone interested in free speech mind you, but we will still be able to get stuff done.

Which I admit is cold comfort.