Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Net neutrality repeal allows internet to only consist of government-sanctioned sites, campaigners warn

There's been no explicit suggestion that what is allowed on the web could be changed – but the plan has been backed by site Breitbart

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 22 November 2017 10:08 GMT
Comments
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets reporters in the spin room following a debate sponsored by Fox News at the Fox Theatre on March 3, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets reporters in the spin room following a debate sponsored by Fox News at the Fox Theatre on March 3, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan

The US government could use the new net neutrality repeal to allow people only to read supportive media sites, campaigners have warned.

Donald Trump's administration, under the new Federal Communications Commission chairman Arjit Pai, has announced that it will kill net neutrality protections. As such, it will do away with one of the fundamental principles of the internet: that all traffic is treated the same, and that companies or people shouldn't be able to block or speed up certain sites.

With that restriction out of the way, internet companies could be allowed to charge people for specific websites, or only allow some sites to be free. And that could easily be abused by an administration that has regularly attacked media and internet sites that it feels are insufficiently supportive.

One of the media companies that would benefit from such a hypothetic situation, Breitbart, has already lent its support to the plan.

Such blocks already exist in some places in the world. One Portuguese internet service provider forces people to buy their data in parts – paying extra for chat apps or video streaming, for instance – and Facebook's 'Free Basics' internet project has been attacked for only actually providing Facebook and other sites for free.

Now campaigners have suggested that similar rules could be put in place that would allow only media supportive of the Trump administration or other future presidencies to be given out to users for free. Internet companies could also choose to only allow people to access certain sites that were helpful to them, too.

Campaigners are using the example to show how the principle of net neutrality could easily be abused. Service providers have made no suggestion that they would introduce such rules, claiming instead that they only want the protections lifted so they can invest more money in infrastructure, but are looking to actively exploit the repeal of net neutrality.

However, activists have repeatedly said that the decision by the FCC allows for such intervention and blocks to easily be put in place, without any protections.

The site Breitbart – which has supported Donald Trump since he launched his campaign – said that it supported such a move.

The FCC's Arjit Pai has said that the repeal will be voted on in December. At that point, the Obama-era protections for net neutrality will be repealed.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in