PressEthic

The PBS show Moyers on America aired a special called The Net @ Risk tonight. The show addresses net neutrality, the accessibility of various parts of the internet without regard to its content. With the increasing sophistication of internet content, such as the use of audio and video features, the companies that supply our internet access are seeking to create different classes of websites. Under such a system, the websites that carry certain types of bandwidth occupying content would be charged by internet service providers in exchange for continuing to relay their premium content.

In accordance with the changing face of the internet, the show's website included plenty of content about the program, including a synopsis of the issue at hand:

Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively eliminated net neutrality rules, which ensured that every content creator on the Internet-from big-time media concerns to backroom bloggers-had equal opportunity to make their voice heard. Now, large and powerful corporations are lobbying Washington to turn the World Wide Web into what critics call a "toll road," threatening the equitability that has come to define global democracy's newest forum. Yet the public knows little about what's happening behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.

Some activists describe the ongoing debate this way: A small number of mega-media giants owns much of the content and controls the delivery of content on radio and television and in the press; if we let them take control of the Internet as well, immune from government regulation, who will pay the price? Their opponents say that the best way to encourage Internet innovation and technological advances is to let the market-not the federal government-determine the shape of the system.

With the increasing sophistication of internet content, such as the use of audio and video features, the companies that supply our internet access are seeking to create different classes of websites. Under such a system, the websites that carry certain types of bandwidth occupying content would be charged by internet service providers in exchange for continuing to relay their premium content.

This summer, the Congress and the Senate both failed to pass bills requiring the FCC to enforce net neutrality. The show brings up quite a few disturbing possibilities for what the future of the internet might look like. For starters, internet service providers could create their own websites, and then privilege them over competitors, so that their customers could only access their own sites. This sounds a lot like the results of the deregulation the FCC did in the 90s, which helped synergy and cross-promotion flourish.

On the other side of the coin, legislators and pundits argue that the last thing the internet needs is government regulation, and the enforcement of net neutrality would compromise the web's dynamic nature and its entrepreneurial role in the free market.

Regardless of personal opinions on the impact of a tiered content privileging system, one thing is clear: if internet service providers make this change, the web as we know it will be radically altered. For better or for worse, the accessibility of all internet content will be completely different. This is yet another significant aspect of how the evolution of technology will impact the press, and it has been widely overlooked.