Everyone and their sister seemed to have an opinion on the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) vote on net neutrality this past week. But, what does it really mean? The WiFi on campus already sucks...is this really going to change anything?
First off, what is net neutrality? Well, I think it's best explained through an analogy to pizza. If every bridge in Minneapolis were owned by Domino's Pizza, they could theoretically charge other pizza-delivery cars more to cross the bridge than they charge their own or even stop other delivery cars from using the bridges. This would drive up the cost of the other pizza drastically or even make it impossible for you to order pizza from these companies. Then, you would be stuck with just Domino's pizza or end up paying significantly more for the pizza you actually want.
With net neutrality, you can order whatever pizza you like, or use whatever website you like and the Internet Service Providers have to treat the websites the same even if you're using YouTube more than Facebook (video streaming uses more data). However, without net neutrality, providers can charge you more to use certain sites and can even block you from using other websites. Imagine suddenly not being able to use Google and having to use Bing because Google costs more or was blocked by your provider. That would be a nightmare.
Another big issue that would come up if net neutrality is ultimately repealed by Congress is that what you see on the Internet has the potential be censored. This means what you search on Google is filtered according to what Internet Service Providers want you to see. They could keep you from looking at consumers prices, from seeing opposing viewpoints and from, in general, seeing things with which they don't agree. Trying to look up inspirational Bible quotes? Sorry, your provider is atheist and blocked these. I might actually die.
Here's the biggest point to consider, though. Net neutrality has not been repealed yet. It has yet to be voted on by Congress. So, we still have a voice. Call your Congressman or Congresswoman. Even if it somehow passes with 87% of people currently against it in opinion polls, then states could vote on it at a local level. Not all hope is lost and we won't necessarily all be paying too much to use Netflix in the future. My days of binge-watching "How I Met Your Mother" and "Grey's Anatomy" are far from over.
