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Can net neutrality be saved in Illinois?

As you may have heard, national regulations governing net neutrality were officially repealed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month. For anyone hiding under a rock since last February, here’s some background on what that means:

Net neutrality rules, enacted in 2015 under the Obama administration, ensured that all internet service providers (ISPs) treated all internet content equally. That meant companies like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T could not block, slow down, charge higher fees or otherwise discriminate against specific websites, users, content providers or communication platforms. An excellent example of net neutrality in action appeared in a post by Yahoo Finance: “Comcast would probably like to promote NBC’s content over ABC’s to its internet subscribers … because Comcast and NBC are affiliated. But net neutrality prevents Comcast from being able to discriminate, and it must display both NBC’s and ABC’s content evenly as a result. That means no slower load time for ABC, and definitely no blocking of ABC altogether.”

Here in Illinois, Rep. Ann Williams, Democrat of Chicago’s 11th District, and Attorney General Lisa Madigan are fighting to ensure that net neutrality remains state law. Madigan, along with 22 other state attorneys general, has sued the FCC over its repeal of net neutrality. And Williams has introduced House Bill 4819, the Broadband Procurement and Disclosure Act. Per Williams, HB 4819 states that if an internet service provider (ISP) wishes to do business with the state of Illinois, it must abide by the net neutrality principles that were in place before the FCC’s recent rule change.

“If ISPs decide not to abide by these principles,” she said, “HB 4819 would require them to disclose to Illinois consumers what changes they have made.” She added: “These two measures would work to protect the free and open internet in Illinois and prevent potential throttling, blocking, paid prioritization and limiting of internet use that ISPs will now be allowed to do under the new rules put in place on June 11 of this year.”

HB 4819 has passed out of the House Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and IT Committee and is now awaiting a vote by the full House.

Williams and her Illinois net neutrality bill are not an anomaly. Twenty-six other states currently have similar legislation in the works. And five governors – from Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Vermont – have signed executive orders to ensure the continuation of net neutrality in their states. For more information on HB 4819 and what other states are doing to preserve net neutrality, see the “HB 4819 Fact Sheet” prepared by ACLU Illinois and available on its website.

The concern, explained Williams, is that over time ISPs will modify their business models in much the same way as cable companies have. With consumers’ increasing reliance on the internet for every facet of life – from social media to news to education and beyond – ISPs will be able to charge consumers more for their services as they create premium internet packages focused on prioritizing the content they own.

“The internet is critical for how we communicate, do business and engage civic institutions – it is no longer a luxury but a necessity,” Williams said.

I reached out to Illinois consumer protection group the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), which represents the interests of residential utility customers, to get the organization’s take on net neutrality’s repeal. In response, communications director Jim Chilsen described a potentially concerning future: “Without net neutrality, we could see an internet that resembles a more complicated and more expensive tiered service, where consumers pay a fee for basic internet, and then would have to pay more to access tiers, like Facebook, for example, or even email.” He warned, “We’ve seen situations like this in other countries.”

CUB’s senior policy analyst Bryan McDaniel added that as distribution companies like AT&T and Comcast buy content companies – AT&T owns TimeWarner; Comcast owns NBC and is currently attempting to buy Fox – they have a financial incentive to prioritize their content over others.

When asked what consumers can do, McDaniel offered two suggestions:

Contact your state legislators and tell them to support HB 4819 (in Illinois).

Contact your U.S. Congressional representatives and encourage them to sign on to the petition to save net neutrality. “Under the Congressional Review Act,” McDaniel explained, “Congress, with the approval of the president, can not only reject regulations issued by a federal agency but it can effectively bar that agency from taking similar action [in the future].”