Net Neutrality and Privacy

[Commentary] One thing is missing from the conversation on net neutrality: privacy.

We usually talk about net neutrality in terms of our rights to read, watch and do what we want online without any company or government interfering. But embedded within those rights is the right to do it all in private. And the appeals court’s ruling demolishes that, too. The fact is, Internet service providers have something that companies like Google and Facebook (and even agencies like the National Security Agency) don’t: direct control over your connections to the Internet and the devices you use to connect to it. Messing with Net Neutrality requires ISPs to monitor our online behavior -- how else can they know what applications to block, or which videos to slow down? -- and companies like Verizon are more than happy to sell our sensitive information to the highest bidder. If this decision stands, it won’t be long before your ISP requires you to connect via their list of approved devices and then uses those devices to literally watch you, either to make some extra cash on the side or to shunt your data off to friends at the NSA. And forget about encryption and other circumvention tools -- your ISP could require your PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) key as condition of using its network, or simply restrict your ability to use any protocol it doesn’t like.