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What?

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live during
the time of the Wild West? Outlaws were abundant, and early
settlers were free to stake claim to land with minimal response or
oversight from the government. If you stop and think about it, the
spread of Internet-connected devices has, in many ways, created a
similar environment—a digital Wild West.
The digital Wild West has many parallels to the old
American frontier. Modern-day cyberspace bandits can commit
deviant or criminal acts (e.g., cyberbullying, stealing data,
denial-of-service attacks, cybervandalism, cyberwarfare) and
are rarely caught or prosecuted. This lack of legal response to
criminal acts is often due to an absence of existing laws needed
to convict such offenders. Cybercriminals are also difficult to Source: bakhtiarzein/Fotolia
physically track down.
In the old American frontier, land was “up for grabs,” and would be governed much like standard utilities (e.g., water and
people rushed to stake claim to valuable land. Similarly, today’s electricity) are by comparable regulations. Many people applauded
digital resources are up for grabs. Companies are trying to stake this ruling. They pointed to the benefits of an Internet free of “fast”
claim to intellectual property, data streams, and bandwidth. lanes and “slow” lanes. However, while on its surface it seems that
Internet service providers (ISPs), for example, have little control this ruling can only be a good thing, there may be downsides to net
over the amount, type, or origin of the content they deliver. Why neutrality.
is this a problem? Consider the fact that in roughly the past People against net neutrality argue that it is yet another
5 years, Netflix’s streaming services have grown so rapidly that instance of the government interfering with free markets. This
30 percent of all Internet traffic in the United States during peak argument is based on laissez-faire economics, which advocates for
hours is associated with people watching movies and TV shows a marketplace in which government intervention is not allowed.
using Netflix. 4 According to this principle, if a company is going to fail, it should
As an ISP, you may feel that Netflix should pay you a fee for fail and the marketplace will correct itself.
clogging up your fiber lines with the release of a new season of In the case of net neutrality, ISPs want to have the freedom to
a popular TV show. On the other hand, consumers and content oversee Internet traffic flowing through their infrastructure. They
providers want net neutrality. This would mean that all users and want to be able to throttle it up or down based on whether content
content providers would be treated equally. There wouldn’t be providers are paying them for better access. Because this capability
“fast” and “slow” lanes on the Internet. ISPs wouldn’t be allowed has been ruled out by the FCC, ISPs are arguing that the loss of this
to block, or even slow, content associated with competing ISPs. potential revenue stream will inhibit infrastructure development,
They also couldn’t charge heavy Internet users additional fees limit growth, and stifle new innovation.
or taxes. Will we ever know if this claim by the ISPs is true? Maybe
To address these issues, the Federal Communications or maybe not. ISPs are working on finding ways to overturn this
Commission (FCC) recently made an important ruling on net ruling. So while this battle is over, the larger war on net neutrality
neutrality and became the new sheriff in town! may have only just begun!

Neutralizing Innovation?
Questions
In early 2015, the FCC approved new regulations to ensure that
ISPs cannot discriminate between different types of Internet traffic. 1. The feature states that access to the Internet can be compared
In short, all consumers will have access to content on an equal to other utilities due to the regulations that government
5
basis. This ruling in many ways renders the Internet a utility. It agencies are beginning to enforce. Do you agree or