Update, Monday, Dec. 12, 3:00 p.m.: A statement released by Comcast indicates the company’s position on the upcoming net neutrality vote: “We applaud the Chairman’s efforts to repeal the ill-advised and outdated burden of Title II classification, which has harmed broadband investment and innovation,” in part reads the statement from David L. Cohen, Comcast’s senior executive vice president and chief diversity officer in open internet. “We also commend the imposition of a transparency rule that requires ISPs to disclose their net neutrality practices to consumers.” Another statement prepared by Dave Watson, president and CEO of Comcast Cable in Open Internet, states “Comcast does not and will not block, throttle, or discriminate against lawful content.” Statements from Comcast executives can be read in full here and here.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the most recent data on campaign spending against Ballot issue 2B in Fort Collins during the Nov. 7 coordinated election. Anti-broadband groups, including the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association, spent about $900,000 for the measure to be defeated. The measure passed with about 57 percent of the vote.
Federal regulations on internet providers are expected to be loosened Thursday in a vote by the Federal Communications Commission, the impacts of which will likely be felt even in Loveland.
The FCC, led by Chairman Ajit Pai, currently has rules in place that prohibit internet providers from giving more favorable connections to certain websites over others. The commission will vote Dec. 14 on an order to deregulate these internet neutrality rules, which were passed in 2015.
In the event the current rules, referred to as “net neutrality,” are ended, litigation against the commission in both district and federal courts would likely delay impacts until the lawsuits are dealt with, but the effects of a repeal would be felt by businesses and individuals alike, local experts on the issue say.
Colin Garfield, a resident of Fort Collins, believes the effort to repeal net neutrality is “the most blatant anti-consumer corporate handout in modern history.”
Garfield spent 13 years as a geographic information systems cartographer before turning his focus to activism on behalf of municipal broadband.
In June 2016, Garfield created a public outreach group, Broadband and Beers, and hosted monthly public meetings at breweries around Fort Collins to discuss broadband. Once the 2017 election season arrived and Ballot Issue 2B was announced, Garfield formed the Fort Collins Citizens Broadband Committee in support of the measure, which would allow the city to provide internet as a municipal utility.
“Currently, the FCC standard for broadband speed is 25 megabits download and 3 megabits upload,” Garfield said. “If (net neutrality) gets repealed, it will likely reduce the national standard to around 10 megabits required speed. It sets us back a few decades.”
Garfield explained that to repeal net neutrality would lend internet providers the ability to block websites of their choosing from the view of browsers, unless the owners of the sites paid fees for their content to be displayed — bad news for small businesses trying to get off the ground.
Small entities like new businesses, nonprofits and schools attempting to set up websites would feel the impact of these paid “fast lanes” far more than larger content providers, like Netflix, which can afford to pay up, Garfield said.
“This repeal could end up trickling down to the average person by increasing subscription costs, buffer costs, and cause a decrease in overall service from Netflix and other content delivery services,” Garfield said. “If (a site is) loading slowly because (the business) didn’t pay a fee, people are going to, within a few seconds, say, ‘I’m done with this,’ and move on to somebody like Amazon.”
The same would go for sites dedicated to causes or subjects the internet providers disagreed with, Garfield said, referencing his own organization’s pro-broadband campaign site, fortcollinsbroadband.org, as an example of a site that broadband competitors like Comcast and CenturyLink, the main internet providers on the north Front Range, would want to clamp down on.
“It creates a new crisis for free speech, free market, entrepreneurs … the damage down the pipes would be incredible,” Garfield said.
Representatives of Comcast were unreachable for comment on this article.
Richard Toftness, who has spent more than 35 years in technical management and authored broadband informational site nocobroadband.com, said he also thinks a repeal of net neutrality would be disastrous.
“It’s illogical, it could stamp down on the little guys, and it could reverse the ability of a municipality to do its own thing,” Toftness said.
Toftness referred to the FCC’s attempt at pre-emption of state and local governments’ efforts to supercede a federal rule against net neutrality and establish net neutrality in their locales.
However, if cities were to establish their own broadband networks managed like other utilities like water or electricity, it would give cities a loophole, Garfield said.
“I think the most effective ways to fight this is to encourage local government to push for broadband,” Garfield said. “I feel like it would give local broadband providers in the cities a competitive advantage because they could ensure that net neutrality and digital privacy are protected.”
John Fogle, who represents Ward III on the Loveland City Council and has been a member of the National League of Cities technology committee since 2011, said he thinks a vote against net neutrality would be reason to push forward municipal broadband in the city.
“As far as what it means for Loveland, I think it just exemplifies the importance of doing our own broadband,” Fogle said. “Broadband, and internet itself, has crossed that threshold between a necessity and a want. People can’t work, they can’t play, our children can’t study without it.”
Fogle said he thinks that Comcast and CenturyLink will keep a relatively low profile — without rate hikes — with cities discussing municipal broadband to avoid negative market effects.
Garfield said the internet providers may start promotional pricing in order to entice customers ahead of municipal broadband, and that they will continue lobbying at the local, state and federal level against broadband and net neutrality, which is much cheaper for them than installing infrastructure for faster networks. Cable providers spent about $900,000 in opposition to Fort Collins’ measure 2B prior to the Nov. 7 election, campaign finance reports state.
For example, Toftness said that over 80 percent of the lobbying for Colorado Senate Bill 152, which was passed in 2005 and made it illegal for the state’s municipalities to create their own broadband networks, was funded by Comcast. (Since its passage, dozens of Colorado communities have opted out of Senate Bill 152. In 2015, Loveland voters chose to override the law.)
Toftness added that Loveland is an unlikely candidate for a fiber update from the private carriers.
“Loveland in a funny position because it’s smaller,” Toftness said. “It’s a hodgepodge of elements — some ancient, some new fiber. But no company is going to invest in bringing it all up to high standard, because we’re small.”
The Loveland Broadband Task Force, a city-coordinated group of community member experts on broadband, will present an update to the Loveland City Council Dec. 12 on the Loveland broadband initiative. The item will not elicit a vote and is for information only.
Garfield said that even in the event that the FCC fails to deregulate, it is important for citizens to have a conversation about why they want “net neutrality” to continue.
“I think it’s even incredible that we’re even having this conversation,” Garfield said. “Even if they don’t do anything, I think it’s a benefit to the citizens to have a conversation about it.”
Julia Rentsch: 970-699-5404, jrentsch@reporter-herald.com