San Francisco’s Fight For Net Neutrality And Civil Liberties Gains Momentum

Since it is becoming evident that the fight for net neutrality has only just begun, cities and states all over America are trying to come up with new ways to give the world wide web back to the people and to restrain the far-reaching hand of internet service providers. Yesterday, just days after the FCC finalized its repeal of net neutrality, Washington passed what Fast Company called “the country’s toughest legislation.”

Clearly, cities and states are taking matters into their own hands, but San Francisco is spearheading the movement. As SF Weekly reported today, the Californian city is launching a new fight for net neutrality and civil liberties.

The San Francisco Municipal Fiber, a non-profit organization which consists of experts in technology, law, and policy, is the driving force behind San Francisco’s efforts.

In February 2018, the organization released a new report, titled “A Network for All of San Francisco: Net Neutrality, Digital Privacy & Local Control.”

The report tackles much more than just net neutrality; competition, privacy, and security are perhaps the nucleus of it.

In the report, the authors wrote the following.

“This report addresses a question that could not be timelier given the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2017 vote to repeal federal net neutrality and privacy authority: What security, privacy, and governance protocols are needed to ensure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating on a city-wide fiber-optic facility deliver services that live up to San Francisco’s values and expectations?”

The San Francisco Municipal Fiber’s proposals would be the strongest set of privacy and security regulations in the United States.

If adopted, these recommendations would, among other things, require internet service providers to ask for permission before showing a customer’s personal information to anyone.

Likewise, ISPs would be required to protect the privacy of San Franciscans, even when faced with demands from government agencies.

On top of that, ISPs would have to give up the right to consent to searches of customer communications, and they would have to notify customers whenever they’re being asked to hand over their personal information.

The local government is not standing still.

San Francisco is strategizing a citywide municipal fiber network, with the goal of providing internet availability to as many San Franciscans as possible. With the city “owning the pipes,” ISPs would face competition, and the market would react accordingly, effectively forcing providers to lower prices= and provide better service.

“San Francisco has a plan to fight back, by owning our network and placing conditions on that network that make internet service providers, by law, follow net-neutrality standards,” Jess Montejano, senior adviser to San Francisco Mayor, told SF Weekly, adding that competition in the marketplace would not only lower prices and improve service but also create new jobs.

At most, these maneuvers will protect the civil liberties of San Franciscans, preserve net neutrality, and offer speeds of at least one gigabit. At the very least, the Californian city will spark a few debates on privacy, publicly owned utilities, the free market, civil libertarianism, and local government intervention.