Think net neutrality is an American problem, being argued about between American companies trying to work under an American regulatory scheme? Forget that. Net neutrality is a larger issue in this part of the world than anywhere in the West.
Let's put it this way. If there were a policy of net neutrality in the UAE, residents would be able to make international calls using VoiP. You would still have to worry about your BlackBerry services being blocked — national security trumps business interests — but at least you would be able to set up Skype on it.
Net Neutrality basically means that no service — provided it's legal — is blocked or promoted over another. Under a net neutrality policy there would be no blocking Skype because of so-called "customer services issues."
What's at stake isn't just blocked services, but the ability of local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to determine what part of the web you go on. This isn't about crime, terrorism, or social values, either; it's all about money. Despite it still being a World Wide Web, the lack of a net neutrality policy allows local ISPs to dice up the web in a way that allows certain businesses, i.e. the ones with the biggest bank accounts, to determine what data flows into your home.
Look at Verizon and Google. This week in the US they proposed a way to justify giving priority access to certain types of data. That sounds nice in some areas, such as medical information, but making sure someone's x-rays move faster over the web is not what people care about.
The real threat net neutrality is trying to prevent is monopoly. Imagine what kind of Three-card Monte could be played by heavyweights such as Google or Yahoo. Example: Google pays (insert local telecom of your choice here) to be a "preferred" service. For its money, Google services will be allowed to stream faster over the local infrastructure that connects the home to the internet. Other services will be slow by comparison, or even intentionally degraded. Service that want to compete with Google have to pony up or shut up just to keep pace. Better yet, let's make it a bidding war.
When confronted with this scenario in the US, Google and Verizon swore up and down they would never do such a thing. Right. The bottom line is that if ISPs are allowed to make these types of deals, the internet will go from the being a place of innovation and free-flowing information into a place ruled by corporate interests. That means boring, censored and complacent.
There are those who disagree. Nay-sayers say net neutrality is a solution looking for a problem, but those people can fall back on US Courts and FCC regulations. What about here in the UAE, where giving mutually exclusive contracts is just part of the way business is done? It isn't hard to image a situation where etisalat and du end up fighting over who gets the right to carry Google or Yahoo. No matter who won, consumers would lose. We need an internet that is — and will remain — a place of innovation and free-flowing knowledge. It's time to bring a net neutral policy to the UAE.
