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The end of Net Neutrality

The US puts an end to end Net Neutrality and opens the door to deregulating Internet access based on granting broadband companies freedom of action

The US is on the way to end the Internet as we know it. The network paradigm of the universality of knowledge, unlimited access to speeds unthinkable for decades, has its days numbered for Americans, who from now on will see the way they experience the Net determined by telecommunications companies.

The decision of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to end Net Neutrality, beyond a mere political decision, part of the legacy of Barack Obama, is a radical change in the right to freedom of information and access to services. A new era of two-speed access depending on what users can afford, will allow broadband providers to offer companies preference, a radical departure from universal access.

It also brings an end to concepts of Net freedom and equality as the companies may decide on what quality users may access, under what conditions, at what price , what pages can be consulted and which are blocked, hidden or simply slowed.

The decision is a huge victory for telecom companies like Verizon, AT & T or Comcast. “You are handing the keys to the Internet over to a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations.,” criticised Democrat Mignon Clyburn, one of the two members of the FCC who voted against the change. What is worrying is that the companies also have major interests in media groups.

In principle, it was a just a question of vocabulary. By changing the name of Internet to simply “information”, with a stoke of the pen, the FCC removed its own powers of legally being able to regulate the Net in any way, as the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of information”.

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