Research on Net Neutrality

                In the wake of our video to convince Mr. Wheeler to approve a plan to implement net neutrality, I realized that most of the information that the Research and Development Team found on the interweb was not used at all in the final video.  That being said I just wanted to share some of this information so that anyone can see it on the internet. 

First and foremost is that the FCC approved a proposal in May of 2014 during their regular monthly meeting with plans to vote on it in their December meeting 2014.  However, with the over four million comments from the American people on the FCC website and Obama’s recent commentary on net neutrality, the FCC has decided to postpone the vote until 2015.  The exact date of the vote is unknown as of now.

Here are some of the perks that we found on the internet for having net neutrality:

1.       A free and open internet is the single greatest technology of our time, and control should not be at the mercy of corporations.

2.       A free and open internet stimulates ISP competition.

3.       A free and open internet helps prevent unfair pricing practices.

4.       A free and open internet promotes innovation.

5.       A free and open internet promotes the spread of ideas.

6.       A free and open internet drives entrepreneurship.

7.       A free and open internet protects freedom of speech.

                Obama outlined a plan for net neutrality that he is pushing Wheeler and the FCC to approve in order to ensure fairness with the internet.  The plan involves four commonsense steps that some service providers already observe:

1. No blocking. If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, your ISP should not be permitted to block it. That way, every player—not just those commercially affiliated with an ISP — gets a fair shot at your business.
2. No throttling. Nor should ISPs be able to intentionally slow down some content or speed up others — through a process often called “throttling”—based on the type of service or your ISP’s preferences.
3. Increased transparency. The connection between consumers and ISPs — the so-called “last mile” — is not the only place some sites might get special treatment. So, I am also asking the FCC to make full use of the transparency authorities the court recently upheld, and if necessary to apply net neutrality rules to points of interconnection between the ISP and the rest of the Internet.
4. No paid prioritization. Simply put: No service should be stuck in a “slow lane” because it does not pay a fee. That kind of gatekeeping would undermine the level playing field essential to the Internet’s growth. So, as I have before, I am asking for an explicit ban on paid prioritization and any other restriction that has a similar effect.

There is a lot of lobbying going on in Washington D.C. both for and against net neutrality.  However, the ISPs such as Verizon, Comcast, and their allies have expended much more money to ensure that net neutrality does not become a thing.  Wheeler himself was even a big lobbyist for the ISPs before becoming the chairman of the FCC.  Below are some graphs and charts depicting the money spent by the anti- net neutrality ISPs and the pro- anti neutrality Silicon Valley giants: