Faux go-slow

By M.H. | SEATTLE

DEAR reader, what kept you? Perhaps you were visiting film-streaming service Netflix, discussion forum Reddit, blogging site WordPress or any of dozens of other popular websites where users are halted at an endlessly spinning "loading" icon. If your first thought was to send an angry missive about your internet provision, the stunt has worked.

September 10th marks Internet Slowdown Day, an effort by activists and web-based firms to suggest how the web might look if rules proposed by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are adopted. At issue is net neutrality, the idea that all data on the internet should be treated equitably, regardless of content or provenance. One of the options mooted by the FCC earlier this year would permit broadband providers—in America, primarily cable companies—to charge certain internet firms for guaranteed levels of service. The cable companies have their eyes on Netflix in particular, whose streamed entertainment sometimes accounts for over a third of all wired download traffic in America, often in competition with their own on-demand offerings.

In Silicon Valley, where a level playing field is seen as a founding principle of the internet and start-ups consider connectivity an inexhaustible resource, this did not go down well. An open market of internet fast and slow lanes would chill innovation, opponents (and The Economist) have argued. Who would consider launching a high-definition gaming service or an online back-up website if reaching customers meant trying to outbid established industry giants? It would be much fairer, say net-neutrality proponents, for the FCC to reclassify broadband provision as a telecommunications service, rather than an information service. It could then choose to enforce the built-in content-neutrality rules laid out in "Title II", part of the Communications Act of 1934 (legislation first deployed to wrangle the telephone industry).

The FCC has been derided for failing to exert its authority over the issue so far. Twice before it has put forward proposals to protect net neutrality, both summarily struck down by US courts. When it released its latest plan in May, protesters camped out to get a first crack at expressing their displeasure. When the commission received more than a million comments on that plan within two months—an overwhelming majority of which supported net neutrality—the commenting deadline was extended to September 15th. A final ruling may come as early as the end of the year.

Battle for the Net, one of the activism outfits behind Internet Slowdown Day, is now casting the upcoming FCC decision as an epic clash between "Team Internet" (a plucky band of high-tech multi-millionaires) and "Team Cable" (a dastardly bunch of Big-ISP billionaires). They hope that internet users will click on the spinning "loading" logos to sign a protest letter to the FCC and to the US Congress.

If the campaign is successful, its next target for reform could be the de facto local monopolies granted to cable companies in the first place. The current industry-regulator face-off is framed by the unusual market these monopolies create—a market that already means that US customers pay disproportionately high fees for comparatively slow internet connections. Optical-fibre networks delivering ultra-fast broadband with capacity enough for anyone’s Netflix habits are still a rarity in America. Google Fiber, a project that has installed gigabit-per-second networks in a few US cities, will probably spur existing network operators to keep up, but cannot hope to compete in the current national market.

None of the websites participating in the Internet Slowdown initiative is actually working any more slowly than usual. But until more cities welcome high-speed competition from the likes of Google, Internet Slowdown Day might be a glimpse into the future.