Net neutrality: Protesters demand 'free speech' in Rehoboth rally

A Federal Communications Commission vote scheduled for next week could change the way Delmarva residents, and the nation, use the internet.

Two protests were planned for the Delmarva Peninsula on Thursday but only one gathered about 30 participants.

Demonstrators at Rehoboth Beach's Verizon stores walked the sidewalks during the chilly evening with signs that said, "we demand free speech, keep net neutrality."

Several drivers slowed down and beeped their horns in solidarity with the demonstrators, who stood on the sidewalk off Route 1 baring signs.

"I think this ties in with the idea of freedom of speech and freedom of expression," said Rehoboth Beach resident Joanne Cabry, who helped organize the demonstration. "The internet is going to be the way we communicate in the future, so we need to keep it as neutral, open and uncensored as possible."

No supporters showed at the Salisbury location near the Walmart on North Salisbury Boulevard.

Protests were planned to oppose the FCC's plan to overturn Obama-era net neutrality rules. Similar protests were planned in about 600 other cities, according to event organizers.

In November, proposed regulations were made public by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The proposal, which will come to a vote Dec. 14, would replace existing net neutrality regulations that prevented telecom companies — such as Verizon or Comcast — from blocking or slowing legal content users seek to access or from accepting payment to prioritize certain data.

This means internet users who consume comparatively large amounts of data could have increased prices for service or see their favorite shows load more slowly — if at all, according to Salisbury University associate professor David Burns.

"You have Comcast, for example, that owns NBC, and nothing would stop them from giving preferential treatment to their shows," said the professor of communications. "There’ll be nothing that’s going to be worse for me, as a viewer, than when I try to tune into 'Game of Thrones' and it starts glitching out."

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Additionally, if internet users play online games or stream a lot of movies or television, the new rules could open them up to additional charges from their service providers, Burns said.

Despite assurances from several of the largest telecoms that they intend to do no such thing if the existing regulations are rescinded, it has been a hot-button issue for years. In 2015, the FCC, headed by then-President Barack Obama-appointed Chairman Tom Wheeler, voted on the regulations that many believe are likely to vanish under Pai. The current chairmen was appointed by President Donald Trump.

The FCC isn’t without support, certainly among telecoms, but also from Republican lawmakers such as Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte.

“Chairman Pai’s (proposal) represents a much-needed reversal from the one-size-fits-all regulations of the previous administration that would have stifled marketplace competition and discouraged innovation,” he said in a release.

In response to the FCC’s plans, one Verizon official said the commission was "poised for a much-needed return" to the openness and innovation that existed prior to the 2015 regulations.

An AT&T official said the proposed changes will "bring to an end this country’s brief and ill-conceived experiment with heavy-handed regulation of the internet," ending the "regulatory uncertainty" and the "deleterious impact such uncertainty had on investment and job creation."

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Betty Deacon of Progressive Democrats of Sussex County says the Rehoboth Beach demonstration she organized is necessary to create awareness of the issue.

"Verizon's primary lawyer, Ajit Pai, was appointed by Donald Trump to head the FCC, and he is the one proposing this," she said. "Is that not a conflict of interest, to work for Verizon and then preside over a decision that could stand to benefit his former company?"

Pai was an associate general counsel for Verizon Communications Inc. from 2001 to 2003, according to his profile on the FCC website. It's that connection that made Verizon stores the chosen location for Thursday's demonstrations.

"These companies, such as Verizon, are only in it for themselves and what they can get out of us," Deacon said. "They'll be able to slow websites, take away access to others unless you pay more. It's all about the money. It's not about servicing people at a reasonable rate."

Proponents and opponents

Following the release of the FCC’s intention, Pai said "under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet."

"Instead, the FCC would simply require Internet service providers to be transparent about their practices so that consumers can buy the service plan that’s best for them and entrepreneurs and other small businesses can have the technical information they need to innovate," he said in a November release.

But Tylor Claggett, a Salisbury University professor of finance, is less convinced about the benefit locals — including comparatively small, regionally based businesses — would gain from the changes.

Those with greater financial means would be able to pay for prioritization through service providers such as Comcast or Verizon, outbidding their lesser competitors when it comes to an internet user’s ability to access them online, Claggett said.

This will have national implications, but also regional ones for Mid-Atlantic businesses if they can’t afford to compete, he said.

“They’d be the have-nots trying to compete against the industry haves,” he said. “They’d be at a disadvantage. It’s like the big soda companies — Pepsi and Coke — and all the other sodas are just trying to get whatever shelf space is left.”

Declining to offer his own stance, Claggett pointed at regulations on banks as an example of restrictions that compete with the idea of a fully free market, but nonetheless provide greater fair play.

"Free enterprise does create wealth and good competition is good for the economy, but we do have this notion that we believe in a democratic environment and that everyone has a fair and equal chance," he said.

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Additionally, all six Virginia, Maryland and Delaware U.S. senators — Democrats Chris Coons, Tom Carper, Chris Van Hollen, Ben Cardin, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner — have issued statements opposing the FCC's plan.

Cardin, Kaine and Warner also joined 25 other senators in addressing a letter to Chairman Pai asking him to delay the upcoming rollback of net neutrality regulations.

A number of groups, including the Pew Research Center, found that many of the 21.7 million comments sent to the FCC — at the commission's request — included false or misleading personal information and duplicated message bodies.

"A free and open internet is vital to ensuring a level playing field online, and we believe that your proposed action may be based on an incomplete understanding of the public record in this proceeding," the letter said. "In fact, there is good reason to believe that the record may be replete with fake or fraudulent comments, suggesting that your proposal is fundamentally flawed."

Demonstrations 'not a hopeless exercise'

Despite an awareness that the demonstrations likely won’t affect the FCC’s Dec. 14 vote, organizers of the nationwide protest said theirs isn't a wasted effort.

“This is not a hopeless exercise,” said Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy for Free Press Action Fund, one of the organizing groups. “My organization intends to sue the FCC in federal court because we believe the repeal of net neutrality protections is not legally justified, and that the agency didn’t follow the proper procedures in arriving at this unwise decision.”

Karr said the coalition of groups the fund is a part of also directed 750,000 calls to Congress in the past two weeks, “letting them know where their constituents stand overall,” and arguing that lawmakers should intervene.

Kathy Prinsket and her husband, Bill, came out from Bridgeville to protest next week's vote.

"The internet should be treated like a utility," Kathy Prinsket said.

"From this point forward, until they vote, contact your congressman," Bill Prinsket said. "And after they vote, keep telling your congressman you want your internet back."

Deacon, the local organizer, also doubted the demonstrations would change the outcome next week, but hoped they would create an awareness that translates to public action.

"When this goes down and passes next Thursday, we should contact our lawmakers immediately and ask them to put in legislation to override it," she said. "Hopefully, these protests will cause some bipartisan support."

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