Let’s Talk About: Pokèmon GO, T-mobile, and Net Neutrality

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but T-mobile has a promotion to have Pokemon Go not count against your data usage. At first glance, especially to a GO player, this is pretty awesome. It’s by far the most popular app in the world right now and despite some isolated “incidents” it’s been a positive experience for the players. It has been encouraging people to get some exercise, explore, and talk to each other. However, the problem lies with T-mobile and the new programs nature as non-net neutral.

First, what is net neutrality? Webster’s Dictionary has an entry on its website stating that, “the idea, principle, or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination”. Put more simply, a service that gives you Internet access cannot directly treat your access to any website differently, period. And yes, there are other laws in place to stop access to unlawful websites, but that blocking is mandated for every ISP and not set by them individually. (Remember that time MegaUpload was shut down for hosting files that contained material prohibited by US law?) For better scripted explanations, I’d recommend checking the Electronics Frontier Foundation‘s website and CGP Grey‘s video.

So, this is not the first time T-mobile has done a similar promotion, so the precedent has been set. BingeOn was their original “won’t count towards your data” program, and was very well received by users. However, critical opinion wasn’t well exposed. Allowing certain websites to have their data to not count towards a customers quota is certainly treating certain websites differently than others. This is quite a thorny topic, and it’s possible people may mistake local companies attempting to use Pokemon Go to attract customers (and promoting it with incentives) more than other websites as a breach of net neutrality. However, there is a key difference between getting a coupon from a business and getting what is essentially “free data” from a carrier. Companies can treat websites however they want to because their behavior won’t affect how or what you can fundamentally access, so they’re only marketing as per usual. Restricting the offer of not counting data towards the limit (“free data”) to a specific shortlist of websites and not video (in the case of BingeOn) in general is directly influencing and changing the way those customers are consuming their entertainment, and isn’t a simple marketing tactic.

Loss of net neutrality would be devastating for self taught developers like myself. Working with your own server annoying enough, but having to deal with another layer on top of that would have stopped me from pursuing a lifelong dream years ago. People further in their careers have their problems as well. For instance, the small app waiting to have a chance now needs to compete with not only Pokémon Go, but the large company backing it in a deal they could only dream of getting. Any competitor to YouTube has yet another issue to worry about, in that T-mobile may not approve them for being a service compatible with the BingeOn program. As much as its difficult to imagine a service that can compete with YouTube, it’s better to have some competition than none at all. Competition results in better services and goods for the end user. In the end, fairness to the underdog and promotion of the ability to compete is what is so good about net neutrality.

I’m not making a big call to action telling T-mobile to cancel the promotion, nor am I trying to tell people that they should “definitely never ever do it”. But I think it’s important to be more aware of what this kind of promotion entails. Regardless of what else this post says… please continue to be safe, courteous, and entertained while you take advantage of what Pokemon GO has to offer.

– Hua Ming Juan

Main photo obtained at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/3485479724 and was resized for aesthetic purposes.