Roger Fingas
A group of 40 technology companies on Wednesday launched a "Day of Action," designed to encourage feedback to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in support of net neutrality regulations — which are opposed by Trump-appointed chairman Ajit Pai, as well as internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon.
A few of the companies participating in the Day of Action — linked to the industry-based Internet Association — include Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snap, Spotify, and Twitter. In some cases, such as with Reddit and Netflix, businesses are calling deliberate attention to the cause via banners and pop-ups on their websites.
July 12 is also being marked by other pro-neutrality organizations, such as Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Conspicuously absent is Apple, despite the growing importance of services like iCloud Drive and Apple Music. Tim Cook did discuss net neutrality with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015, but the CEO has remained largely quiet otherwise. He has often been vocal about other topics such as privacy, the environment, and LGBT rights.
Net neutrality insists that all traffic be treated equally by ISPs. If the FCC abandons the principle, ISPs could conceivably created tiered experiences in which some sites and services are faster than others — such as their own, or ones from companies rich enough to pay. In extreme cases options could be throttled, blocked, or hidden behind paywalls.
Companies like T-Mobile have already been skirting the edges of regulations with "zero-rating" practices, in which favored services don't count against bandwidth caps.
On May 18, the FCC voted to advance a Pai proposal to reverse net neutrality protections. The official "Comment Date" on the matter is July 17.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
31 Comments
Hmmm...
As it appears to be a bit un-Apple-y on the surface I wonder if it's an indication of sorts that Apple may have some plans for an internet service provider that favors Apple devices over competing products. Net Neutrality would certainly have an effect on that. Otherwise as the article alludes to it does seem unusual for Mr Cook to avoid commenting on the subject or joining its tech-brethren in the Day of Action.
I can understand why companies like Amazon and Netflix would stand for so called Net Neutrality as they consume inordinate amounts of bandwidth and don't have to worry about building or maintaining the networks that delivery their services to their customers. I used to think net neutrality was a good idea, but the more I think about it, I am not as convinced. The ISP's are being forced to spend millions (maybe billions?) of dollars every year to continue to upgrade their capacity. While my service continues to get more and more expensive every year and it seems to get slower at the same time. So why shouldn't the people who are building and maintaining these networks be able to work out better agreements with the content providers? Network management is a very difficult thing and we are all spoiled with the idea that it's just there. It's not magic and it's not free.
Now, it may well be that Apple knows this and is working with the carriers to ensure that their services are given a most favored content status in the future. This could be good for Apple users in the long run.
And if you think's it's bad now, just wait until VR and the MetaVerse take hold of society.
Also, if I am paying for bandwidth, why should I be subsidizing the advertisers out there with the bandwidth that I am paying for? That hardly seems fair.