Protecting innovation through equality will help save a free Internet

The Internet has revolutionized the way we interact, study, research, and do business. As a technology non-profit in Washington, we use the Internet to reach users across the U.S. and the world. Our ability to reach those users is threatened by the repeal of net neutrality rules, which prohibited large broadband providers from blocking and slowing web traffic or creating pricey priority fast-lanes online.

Launched in 1991, the Inland Northwest Technology Alliance is an organization comprised of technology professionals, students, business owners and influencers dedicated to growing and improving the tech sector within our region. We work on their behalf to serve as a source of support and knowledge.

Federal regulators adopted strong net neutrality protections in 2015 to make sure that the Internet kept the open no-barriers philosophy it was based on. The rules were designed to make sure big cable and telecom companies couldn’t enrich themselves by charging consumers and small businesses like ours more to connect online. This allowed businesses like my independent digital design studio and countless other small businesses in our region to get off the ground and succeed without having to overcome yet another roadblock.  

But last year, the Federal Communications Commission removed those protections, much to the delight of big cable and telecom companies. It was a terrible moment for Americans and business owners like me who rely on the Internet.

The Internet is supposed to be a place of freedom and equal opportunity, where winners and losers are decided by the market, not a few executives at a few corporations selling pricey Internet access. Healthy, open competition is what allows the best ideas and technologies to thrive. The Internet should be a place of equal opportunity, not a place where a few monopolistic cable companies can influence what we all see and hear.

But without net neutrality, there is no longer a guarantee we’ll be able to reach our users at all. Any internet service provider across the country can now stand in the way if it helps them sell a competing service or give a leg up to a bigger company who can pay more for better access to users. Either way, our company’s future — as well as the jobs of hundreds of thousands of Americans working at small internet-based businesses like ours — are threatened by this new post-net neutrality reality.

If companies are forced to pay exorbitant fees to guarantee their product can reach consumers quickly, they may have a hard time staying in business, must less expanding.

Net neutrality protections are no longer in effect, and it won’t be long until we begin to see and feel its effects across the country. Congress has the power to prevent this mess and needs to pass legislation that would restore net neutrality protections. Our livelihood, the future of innovation across the country, and the connectivity of Internet users depend on it. 

Zach Shallbetter is president of the board for Inland Northwest Technology Alliance, a Spokane-based non-profit comprised focused on improving the community by building a technology-aware culture through educational programs, events, initiatives and advocacy.