By this point, most of everyone on here, as well as the other technology related subreddits have heard that the F.C.C. is considering proposing the idea of internet fast lanes into their latest “Net Neutrality” proposal. As I am sure that many of you are aware, if this decision comes to fruition, it will make for a terrible day in the History of the United States Internet. This decision will allow for pay-to-play models, in which the ISP’s can dictate which companies can transmit data over their networks at the fastests speeds. One could argue that this practice is little more than digital extortion, and it will eventually pave the way towards higher premiums for digital content distribution services and a drastic stifling of innovation on the same front. What little innovation that does manage to survive this decision will likely be shipped overseas, where tech startups will have room to flourish, and will not have to deal with the crippling fees that the US market deems necessary to place upon them. Essentially, the internet that we Americans have come to know and love is on the brink of extinction, and there isn’t much we can do about it… Or is there?
Over the last several hours, I have been reading the general reactions to this news. The first, and most damning are that of complacency. The comments that essentially boil down to, “Well guys, we tried. Net Neutrality is dead. Sadpanda.” On the other half of the spectrum are the reactions of those that are furious and want to see some form of action set forward to finally bring an end to the battle for Net Neutrality. While I fundamentally agree with the latter half, the problem remains that neither of these are taking the proper steps towards rectifying this situation. So what are we to do then? Do we write angry emails to the F.C.C. commissioners? Do we vent our frustrations within the comment sections of tech related subs? Do we share this information on popular social networking sites, in the hopes that maybe we can rally the mainstreamers to our cause? The short answer to all of those questions is, “yes,” however, taking all of those steps will amount to very little in the long run. So what is the missing element then? How can we hope to get our voices out in front of the right people who have the most influence in this decision? Two words: organized protest.
Washington D.C. has a population of 632,323 people. There are also a total of about 19.79 Million people that live within a four hour driving distance of Washington D.C., most of which hail from New Jersey and New York City. Why is this number important? Consider that the United States is gigantic, and the financial burden is huge for someone who lives in Middle-America or the West Coast to travel to D.C. The fact is that very few people outside of this regional demographic will have the opportunity to travel to D.C. for the sole purpose of protesting, regardless how much they would want to be a part of it. Now, ask yourself, out of the 19.79 million people that live within a short driving distance of D.C., how many of them do you think are redditors?
Considering that as of July, 2013, reddit touted that 6% of the US population were current users of reddit, we can draw the assumption that about at least 1.19 million of those individuals are redditors. The more difficult statistic to pin down is just how many of these individuals have heard of, or let alone, care about Net Neutrality. The only poll number I was able to find dates back to late 2010, and it claims that only 21% of U.S. voters support Net Neutrality. Again, this poll is over three years old, and we can only assume that they used a proper polling method to garner this result. We could attempt to average out the number of Net Neutral advocates that are within our targeted regional demographics, by weighing the percentage of reddit users who are from the U.S. to the percentage of users that are subscribed to /r/Technology. Considering that reddit touts an estimated 114.9 million people, and knowing that 6% of the U.S. population are redditors, that gives us an estimated figure of about 19.8 million people. /r/Technology has a little over 5 million subscribers, which equates to 4.4% of reddit’s user base. If (and it is a big if) we assume that the same percentage carries over to the U.S. user base, then that equates to about 871,200 U.S. /r/Technology subscribers. If we take the roughly 6% of the US population that lives within a 4 hour driving distance of D.C., and apply it to the estimated U.S. /r/Technology subscribers, we get an estimated total of 52,272 people. Granted, this estimation has an extreme margin of error, considering that we do not have definitive numbers of the /r/Technology geographics, but for the time being, we’ll work with it.
Let us assume that out of those 52,272 people, 1% are willing to make a trip to D.C. and stand out in front of the F.C.C. Building, sign in hand, yelling out for a united cause. Will 500 protesters be enough to put a dent in this thing? Probably not, but what if we can get 5% (~2,600)? What about 15% (~7,840)? Imagine the ruckus that could be raised with 25% (~13,000). Regardless, whether the number is 500 or 15,000, the fact is that someone will take notice. Sure, the mainstream media will not air a moment of the protest for anything less than 5,000 people most likely, but the hundreds of tech blogs likely will, as well as the various local outlets surrounding the D.C. area. Point is, a grassroots movement has to start somewhere, and every person that is out picketing with a sign, is one less who is not.
To elaborate: if redditors want to actually do anything to deter the almost inevitable death of Net Neutrality, then we are going to have to do a little more than just type angrily on our keyboards and huff at our monitors. We need to get out, get organized, and do everything within our power to start a National debate on this issue, and with it being an election year, this is the perfect opportunity to just that. Rally the troops. Let’s get ready to go to war.
TL;DR: Raging at your keyboard is going to do very little to repeal the ISP’s and F.C.C.’s efforts to kill Net Neutrality. It is time to get up, get organized and protest. The burden of responsibility primarily comes down to those of you who live in or near D.C. and have the time to get out and fight for this cause. Let’s set a date, and send out a call for action.
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