How Will the End of Net Neutrality Affect Social Work?
by Stephen Cummings, MSW, ACSW, LSW
On June 11, 2018, Net Neutrality officially ended. As with just about anything political, the perspectives on what this means are pretty diverse. Along the way, the simple concept of what Net Neutrality represented has become somewhat lost.
What was Net Neutrality?
Utilities are resources in which we have some expectation of consistency. When the power goes out for a while, I’m concerned for my whole ecosystem. Will my refrigerated food go bad? Will I be able to sleep in the summer heat? What if I need to contact someone and my phone loses its charge? If the water system fails, how much clean water is accessible before the municipal water system is fixed? Let’s remember that in Flint, Michigan, USA, this is a real problem.
Consider the Internet. The flow of information through the networks that make up the Internet are managed and delivered to consumers via the Internet Service Provider. As the reliance on the Internet grew, ISPs began to play with this market. One example: If you access the Internet a lot, you may have your speed adjusted downward (throttling), which encourages you to pay more for the ability to access a "fast lane.” Net Neutrality was an attempt to limit the monetizing the access, treating the fundamental nature of the Internet as a utility. This doesn’t mean that the Internet was the same everywhere, but to the extent that additional levels of inequality could be prevented, Net Neutrality was intended to force limits on ISPs.
So what changes?
Probably, nothing right away. Internet providers will likely make incremental changes. It’s possible that we’ll see significant changes in a year or so. The U.S. was somewhat unique in this model of the Internet-as-utility, so we have examples elsewhere in the world. In Slate, April Glaser (2017) notes that in other countries, many popular applications like Facebook and WhatsApp require additional fees for access. The elimination of Net Neutrality could mean paying multiple charges: you pay Netflix to see their content, then pay the carrier additional fees for access. A viral Twitter post (Kanna, 2017) showed how Portugal has split the Internet into cable-style tiers, requiring fees for a variety of apps U.S. consumers take for granted.
Why should social workers care about Net Neutrality?
Without the consumer protections that were the backbone of Net Neutrality, our clients face a new wave of possible cost increases. It’s fashionable to simplify technology access issues as something trivial (the pejorative “First World Problems”), but this attitude dismisses the nature of technology as a natural element in our lives. Consider mobile tech: it’s no longer a sign of wealth and status to possess a smartphone, and for households with limited resources, the connectivity mobile tech provides is no longer a luxury. The NASW’s most recent update of the Code of Ethics reflects this trend. Many of the updates to the Code include technology use. Allan Barsky (2017) outlined these changes for The New Social Worker magazine last year.
What can social workers do?
Social workers should be aware that Net Neutrality is popular with the public and, if reinstated, will be good for the people we serve
- Continue to educate friends and colleagues. Net Neutrality remains vaguely understood, and grassroots-level advocacy will be indispensable if Net Neutrality is to be reinstated.
- Hold your ISP accountable. Although it may seem like a lost cause, your provider may respond to public pressure to maintain at least some aspects of Net Neutrality, particularly if a loss of customers is at stake.
- Contact your representatives. Resources like BattlefortheNet.com help facilitate reaching out to lawmakers who represent you.
References
Barsky, A. (2017). Ethics alive! The 2017 NASW Code of Ethics: What’s new? The New Social Worker. Retrieved from:
http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/ethics-articles/the-2017-nasw-code-of-ethics-whats-new/
Glaser, A. (2017, December 8). What will an internet without net neutrality look like? Slate. Retrieved from:
Kanna, Ro. (2017, October 26). In Portugal, with no net neutrality, internet providers are starting to split the net into packages [Twitter moment]. Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/923701871092441088/
NASW. (2017). Code of ethics. Retrieved from:
https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
Stephen Cummings is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Iowa School of Social Work, where he is the administrator for distance education.