With FCC’s Net Neutrality Ruling, the US Could Lose Its Lead in Online Consumer Protection

The internet may be an international system of interconnecting networks sharing a rough global consensus about the technical details of communicating through them – but each country manages its own internet environment independently. As the US debate about the role of government in overseeing and regulating the internet continues, it’s worth looking at how other countries handle the issue.
Our research and advocacy on internet regulation in the US and other countries offers us a unique historical and global perspective on the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2017 decision to deregulate the internet in the US The principle of an open internet, often called ‘net neutrality,’ is one of consumer protection. It is based on the idea that everyone – users and content providers alike – should be able to freely spread their own views, and consumers can choose what services to use and what content to consume. Network neutrality ensures that no one – not the government, nor corporations – is allowed to censor speech or interfere with content, services or applications.
As the US continues to debate whether to embrace internet freedom, the world is doing so already, with many countries imposing even stronger rules than the ones the FCC did away with.

This post was published at FinancialSense on 12/15/2017.