LOCAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9
Net neutrality debate prompts
strong feelings on both sides
By JADE MCDOWELL
and PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITERS
The internet is up in arms
over net neutrality — and the
debate is playing out locally,
too.
The discussion has been
making the rounds after Fed-
eral Communications Com-
mission chairman Ajit Pai
announced he was recom-
mending the commission
reduce regulations on inter-
net service providers, includ-
ing a Title II protection that
designates the internet as a
utility like telephone lines.
One result would be provid-
ers no longer have to treat all
web traffic the same, allow-
ing them to prioritize certain
websites over others when it
comes to download speed or
charge customers more for
high-speed access to sites
such as Netflix.
Much of the battle over
net neutrality boils down to a
question of whether govern-
ment regulation or free mar-
ket competition is the more
effective means of keeping
the internet accessible.
Joe Franell, CEO of
Hermiston-based
internet
service provider Eastern
Oregon Telecom, believes
competition, not regula-
tory control, is the key to a
healthy market. For decades
the internet was completely
unregulated, and he said
that’s what many people
believe allowed it to flourish.
Franell said what Pai is
proposing would give pro-
viders more flexibility but
require them to disclose their
practices so consumers could
choose companies offering
what they were looking for.
“Net neutrality is only a
problem when you only have
one choice,” he said. “If you
don’t like what a company
is doing, go to a different
company.”
There are fears among
consumers, however, that
all internet service provid-
ers will move in the same
direction, leaving few real
choices. When American
Airlines started charging
fees for all checked baggage
in 2008 it caused an outcry
from customers, but within
weeks the other airlines
began to follow suit.
Wtechlink
co-founder
Byron Wysocki of Pend-
leton said ending net neu-
trality only seems to ben-
efit stockholders of major
communications
compa-
nies. One downside for con-
sumers could be your inter-
net service looking a lot like
cable TV service. Custom-
ers might have to pay $5 for
STAFF PHOTO BY DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Joseph Franell is the CEO of Eastern Oregon Telecom, which
provides fiber Internet in Hermiston.
a package to watch Netflix,
$5 more to use Facebook
and other social media, and
so on.
“That, I think, is a very
scary idea,” he said, and
also could hurt the next
great website or internet
innovation.
Oliver Brown, owner of
Game King, Pendleton, plays
online games that require
large amounts of bandwidth.
He said he is opposed to end-
ing net neutrality and con-
cerned with the possibil-
ity of paying more to access
services.
“Net neutrality is
only a problem
when you only have
one choice. If you
don’t like what a
company is doing,
go to a different
company.”
Joseph Franell, CEO of
Eastern Oregon Telecom
“The net is now a neces-
sity,” Brown said, and the
way to access everything
from entertainment to job
applications to checking
account balances. He said
providers charging more for
“fast lanes” would hurt the
customer.
“For the people who
struggle to pay bills and
feed kids, $20 to $30 extra
a month is a lot of money,”
he said.
The move from neutral-
ity is surprising, he said.
The FCC in recent years has
fined companies for throt-
tling data and streaming ser-
vices. T-Mobile, for exam-
ple, paid $48 million in 2016
to settle an FCC complaint
when the company slowed
data for its heaviest users.
Brown also said he
doesn’t like the politics of
the situation.
“I am really disappointed,
you know?” he said. “How
are we letting these big com-
panies keep getting more
and more advantages? They
already nickel and dime
you.”
Franell can see possi-
ble advantages for consum-
ers, however, if providers
are given flexibility. He said
some consumers might not
mind if lesser-used websites
take a little longer to load if
it means EOT can give them
faster video streaming.
“I can’t give Netflix pref-
erential treatment on my net-
work, even if all my custom-
ers want Netflix,” he said.
Franell said most land-
line phones also are inter-
net-based these days, and
regulations prevent him
from prioritizing a 911 call
over web browsing.
Wysocki also expressed
doubts about companies
slowing down data. He said
that technology is allowing
internet speeds to double
every 16-24 months.
Social media has been
full of warnings that inter-
net service providers such
as Charter could divide the
internet up into packages
like cable TV, holding some
websites hostage unless cus-
tomers pay a higher price
for a premium package, or
hurting small businesses by
slowing their websites to
a crawl because they can’t
afford to pay a premium for
preferential treatment. While
that would be legal, Franell
said people need to remem-
ber that the internet was not
a Title II utility before 2015
and yet those scenarios were
not happening. He feels it is
unlikely that a repeal of that
2015 classification would
suddenly bring about a dra-
matic change in users’ inter-
net experience.
He also felt talking points
about internet service pro-
viders being able to sell cus-
High schoolers take
on Knowledge Bowl
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
tomers’ web-browsing data
were overblown, since they
are “probably the only folks
not selling it.”
“EOT is not collecting
and selling your data,” he
said. “That’s not our busi-
ness model. That’s a Goo-
gle thing. That’s an Amazon
thing.”
Wysocki, however, said
providers would be able
to look at what you watch
online in real time and dis-
criminate against websites
or services they don’t like or
have a beef with.
Pai said repeal of some
FCC regulations could
help providers have more
resources to expand services
in rural areas, and Franell
agreed. He said EOT doesn’t
take any government money
and is therefore much less
regulated than some provid-
ers, and yet about 20 hours
of staff time a week are spent
on FCC reporting, out of a
15-person staff.
“Every regulatory burden
means I’m spending time
and money responding to
the FCC instead of spending
time and money on custom-
ers,” Franell said.
He also said the move
should mean an end to fran-
chise fees from munici-
palities such as Hermis-
ton, which recently voted
to impose franchise fees on
internet sales starting Jan. 1.
Are you smarter than a
high schooler?
It’s not as easy to master
the knowledge needed to
excel in secondary school,
as about 65 area stu-
dents found out Wednes-
day at Hermiston High
School’s Knowledge Bowl
tournament.
With teams from Echo,
Hermiston, Helix, Stan-
field and Umatilla — as
well as one from Connell
High School in Connell,
Washington — students
answered questions in his-
tory, science, mathematics,
geography and literature.
Each of the three prelim-
inary rounds consisted of
50 questions, and the top
three teams went on to
compete in the final round.
The winning team was
from Stanfield. They were
followed by a second place
tie between two teams
from Hermiston.
To find a champion, stu-
dents were split into four
different classrooms where
all received the same set of
questions.
“They are very diffi-
cult,” said Maggie Hughes-
Boyd, one of the instructors
of Hermiston High School’s
Knowledge Bowl club.
“A lot are things they’ll
learn as they get older. And
sometimes they’ll be really
good context clues, so they
can guess.”
The students from Con-
nell said they compete at
tournaments around Wash-
ington as well. The small
high school has a club
that meets during lunch to
practice.
Reece Brown, one of
two seniors on the team,
said some amount of
self-training is involved,
too.
“Sometimes it’s just
about being curious,” he
said. “My favorite ques-
tions are just the random
ones that I know and that
everyone else doesn’t.”
John Lauck, the Herm-
iston club’s other advisor,
said he estimated Knowl-
edge Bowl club had been
active at the high school
for at least 12 years.
Lauck, a former Hermis-
ton High School teacher,
now teaches math at Blue
Mountain
Community
College. He worked as
one of the readers, joking
with students in between
questions.
After a math ques-
tion that no one answered
correctly, one student
remarked that they had just
learned the answer the day
before in pre-calculus.
“Why would you forget
that if you learned it yes-
terday?” Lauck asked in
mock dismay.
“I have a ‘D’ in pre-
calc,” the student quipped.
Have
yours-
Elf
a Very
happy
holiday
Designed by Karli Kretschmer,
Age 9, La Grande, OR.
She was the winner of our
annual Holiday Design Contest.
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