Peter Cochrane: US will 'shoot itself in the head and the foot' over lifting of net neutrality

Former BT CTO Peter Cochrane warns that the lifting of net neutrality in the US will raise barriers and hinder innovation

The ‘must destroy everything Obama' mantra of the current US administration just saw the repeal of net neutrality in the USA by the communications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission.

Supported by a bevy of misconceptions, half truths, contrived facts and financially warped intent, all bits are no longer to be deemed equal.

Without doubt, this is a profound and business-landscape changing move!

ISPs in the US will now have the right to control the speed of access and traffic flows to a site, as well as offering their own competing services at the same time.

At the very least, we should expect them to favour their own services - Verizon favouring its own web property Yahoo over Google, for example - and those where they make a substantial return per bit delivered, such as via payments from either subscribers or web companies themselves.

Anything they consider OTT (over the top) and outside their income-generating business could be choked or, at the very least, throttled.

Economically, socially, and commercially the US appears to have shot itself in the head and the foot at the same time

So, just think about Skype, FaceTime, YouTube, Amazon, eBay, cloud computing, Wikipedia, general search, online radio and TV, FaceTime, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, Flickr, and Google, along with business applications, including artificial intelligence and many more being purposely slowed down for the self-interest of a handful of US telecoms majors who control the wires that deliver internet services.

Repealing net neutrality will very effectively kill net freedom and democracy, and could cripple freedom of information. Economically, socially, and commercially the US appears to have shot itself in the head and the foot at the same time. Start-ups and small-and-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will be disadvantaged, and business and overseas trade damaged.

There are even some voices across the EU suggesting that Europe treads the same path.

And don't think for a moment that it cannot happen: money, greed and power corrupt absolutely, especially when tainted by technology and market ignorance.

Sad to say the general public probably won't understand the reality of all this until they have lost it all. Freedom of speech, access, trade, education, training, healthcare, and easy communication might just become historical talking points within a decade.

All of this should be obvious stuff.

Even on security, the impact at all levels will manifest in ways most cannot imagine.

Barriers to communications will take us backwards, not forwards. For example, when you complete any electronic transaction it has to be closed as fast as possible to remain secure from any distorting interventions. And so all e-payments are potentially at risk, along with all forms of complex transaction performed using blockchains.

Repealing net neutrality will very effectively kill net freedom and democracy, and could cripple freedom of information

In the same way we should never underestimate an enemy in war, we should not think for a moment that the 'dark side' won't seek to exploit this new window of (delayed) opportunity. I can guarantee that they will already be working on it: Touch cards, mobile phone payments, online banking, and all forms of e-payment will all face expanded threat scenarios.

So, is there anything we can do? Yes, but it will most likely cost us all more money.

A modest virtual private networking (VPN) service provides some proofing, but is far from comprehensive. So I forecast that we may witness the launch of a new raft of OTT services that manicure our traffic into streams that emulate and look very like the bona fide services of the ISPs and their preferred customers. We may also see the ‘steering' of traffic to ‘freedom friendly' ISPs.

Another likely outcome of this imposition is the movement of services and facilities offshore to countries friendlier to the open internet, ISPs and networks.

But, perhaps even more importantly, the diversion of traffic away from US shores altogether. Only time will tell!

Peter Cochrane OBE is the ex-CTO of BT, who now works as a consultant focusing on solving problems and improving the world through the application of technology.