Is the Repeal of Net Neutrality a Necessary Evil? An Empirical Analysis of Net Neutrality and Cybercrime

While net neutrality guarantees equal access to the Internet and online content, it serves as a limiting factor in identifying and tracking criminal activities in cyberspace by ensuring that data packet is transmitted with equal priority, irrespective of its source and content. Exploiting a natural experiment in which net neutrality policies were officially repealed in 2018 in the United States, this study examines the impact of net neutrality on the occurrence of cybercrime. Our findings suggest that the repeal of net neutrality is negatively associated with the occurrence of malicious code and content in an attempt to compromise computer systems (e.g., malware and ransomware). In contrast, we do not find any significant relationship with cybercrime victimization, and cybercrime that may subsequently occur in compromised systems (e.g., data breaches and denial-of-service attacks). This study provides novel insights into the role of net neutrality and open Internet toward the preventive cybersecurity paradigm