Preservation for Future Generations
There has been a term thrown around a lot recently on the various sites and message boards of the Internet. Sadly, this concept rarely penetrates into the real world, or at least not the Exeter bubble. This term is “net neutrality.” You may ask what this means. The principle of net neutrality is that all data on the Internet are treated neutrally and equally. It is what guarantees that when you open your browser, you will be able to do anything you want to: stream Netflix, browse Facebook or play games, without your Internet service provider (the company you buy your Internet from) treating your Internet usage differently from that of any other user.
Many people take the free Internet kept free by net neutrality for granted. When you search for something, you expect that you will get accurate results. When you want to watch something online, you expect that if it is not on Youtube or Netflix, you can go to another website to stream it and your Internet speeds will not be affected on your end, although how fast the site you are on responds is up to the site itself. But what if these things that you take for granted could no longer be counted on?
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government bureau that regulates the Internet, is trying to pass a new set of regulations that would completely destroy the principle of net neutrality, placing control of the Internet into the hands of the highest bidder. These regulations would allow companies to pay Internet service providers to boost Internet speeds for their websites. While this may not seem like a bad thing at first (hey, faster Netflix!) there are several drawbacks to these allowances.
The first is that Internet start-ups would have an immense disadvantage over large corporations. In a country where innovation is key, we cannot make it more difficult for small businesses to grow. By giving larger companies faster speeds than start-ups, traffic that might have gone to small businesses will start to go to these corporations instead, because hey, who wouldn’t choose the site with faster loading speeds?
The second drawback to these new regulations stems from the principle that money doesn't grow on trees. In order to stay on par with the competition, buying faster Internet speeds from Internet service providers will in effect become mandatory for any business. Where do you think this extra money being shelled out to ISP’s will come from? It will come from you. If these regulations are passed, we will see price hikes on paid Internet services. Do you want to pay more for your Netflix? This money will end up coming out of the pockets of the hardworking consumers of America.
So what can you do to stop this from happening? According to federal guidelines, the rules governing a service depend on the classification that that service has. If the FCC were to reclassify Internet service providers as “Title II Common Carriers,” schemes such as paying for exclusive speeds would be barred. How do we get the FCC to reclassify ISPs? The best way to do this is to speak up as citizens and let our voice be heard. Call your state’s members of Congress, as well as the FCC itself, and ask that Internet service providers be classified as “Title II Common Carriers.” If we band together and tell our government that this is unacceptable, then we can preserve net neutrality for future generations.