AT&T-Time Warner and a Sea Change for the Internet

This has been, perhaps, one of the most important weeks in the history of the Internet. On June 11, the repeal of net neutrality consumer protections went into effect, laying the regulatory groundwork for large Internet service providers to (transparently) favor some (their own) content. On June 12, a court approved a huge combination of content with a major internet service provider. We can do the math. With the Federal Communications Commission allowing ISPs to be the internet’s gatekeepers and the courts OKing the next way of media ownership consolidation, consumer protections are about to be drowned away.