Regulators December 12, 2017 Daily Hodl Staff

Will Net Neutrality Doom Cryptocurrencies?

The vote to end net neutrality is just two days away, and could be a major blow to the crypto world. If the Federal Communications Commission approves throttling bandwidth and speed adjustments by Internet service providers such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, Internet usage will change as more telecom companies will be able to charge higher fees for traffic to various websites.

With the end of net neutrality, Internet service providers would essentially be able to determine what is and is not lawful. They would be able to reduce traffic to sites they deem criminal, immoral or illegal. They could reduce or kill traffic, for example, to Coinbase. Services and specific sites like BitTorrent could be shut down as telecom companies censor web content at will.

Mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies will depend on a strong ecosystem where packets of data are moved around the internet in peer-to-peer networks freely. The decentralized model of cryptocurrencies, where governing bodies do not control them, is wholly dependent on an open Internet.

If Internet service providers are allowed to slow down or block any aspects of crypotocurrency transactions because of allegations of tax evasion, criminal activity or money laundering, they can seriously curtail the growth of cryptocurrencies at large.

Should net neutrality be overturned, any disruptive technology or ideology, particularly those that threaten existing businesses and financial interests, such as Bitcoin, would be at risk of being wiped out.

Citizens are making their voices heard at Battle for Net Neutrality.

Internet pioneers wrote the following open letter to stop the repeal of net neutrality protections.

The Honorable Roger Wicker, Chair Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet

The Honorable Brian Schatz,
Ranking Member Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet

The Honorable Marsha Blackburn,
ChairHouse Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology

The Honorable Michael F. Doyle,
Ranking MemberHouse Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology

Senator Wicker:
Senator Schatz:
Representative Blackburn:
Representative Doyle:

We are the pioneers and technologists who created and now operate the Internet, and some of the innovators and business people who, like many others, depend on it for our livelihood. We are writing to respectfully urge you to call on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to cancel the December 14 vote on the FCC’s proposed Restoring Internet Freedom Order (WC Docket No. 17-108 ).

This proposed Order would repeal key network neutrality protections that prevent Internet access providers from blocking content, websites and applications, slowing or speeding up services or classes of service, and charging online services for access or fast lanes to Internet access providers’ customers. The proposed Order would also repeal oversight over other unreasonable discrimination and unreasonable practices, and over interconnection with last-mile Internet access providers. The proposed Order removes long-standing FCC oversight over Internet access providers without an adequate replacement to protect consumers, free markets and online innovation.

It is important to understand that the FCC’s proposed Order is based on a flawed and factually inaccurate understanding of Internet technology. These flaws and inaccuracies were documented in detail in a 43-page-long joint comment signed by over 200 of the most prominent Internet pioneers and engineers and submitted to the FCC on July 17, 2017.

Despite this comment, the FCC did not correct its misunderstandings, but instead premised the proposed Order on the very technical flaws the comment explained. The technically-incorrect proposed Order dismantles 15 years of targeted oversight from both Republican and Democratic FCC chairs, who understood the threats that Internet access providers could pose to open markets on the Internet.

The experts’ comment was not the only one the FCC ignored. Over 23 million comments have been submitted by a public that is clearly passionate about protecting the Internet. The FCC could not possibly have considered these adequately.

Indeed, breaking with established practice, the FCC has not held a single open public meeting to hear from citizens and experts about the proposed Order.

Furthermore, the FCC’s online comment system has been plagued by major problems that the FCC has not had time to investigate. These include bot-generated comments that impersonated Americans, including dead people, and an unexplained outage of the FCC’s on-line comment system that occurred at the very moment TV host John Oliver was encouraging Americans to submit comments to the system.

Compounding our concern, the FCC has failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about these incidents and failed to provide information to a New York State Attorney General’s investigation of them.

We therefore call on you to urge FCC Chairman Pai to cancel the FCC’s vote. The FCC’s rushed and technically incorrect proposed Order to abolish net neutrality protections without any replacement is an imminent threat to the Internet we worked so hard to create. It should be stopped.

Signed,

Frederick J. Baker, IETF Chair 1996-2001, ISOC Board Chair 2002-2006

Mitchell Baker, Executive Chairwoman, Mozilla Foundation

Steven M. Bellovin, Internet pioneer, FTC Chief Technologist, 2012-2013

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web & professor, MIT

John Borthwick, CEO, Betaworks

Scott O. Bradner, Internet pioneer

Vinton G. Cerf, Internet pioneer

Stephen D. Crocker, Internet pioneer

Whitfield Diffie, inventor of public-key cryptography

David J. Farber, Internet pioneer, FCC Chief Technologist 1999-2000

Dewayne Hendricks, CEO Tetherless Access