Today the FCC voted to repeal Net Neutrality. There are still a lot of steps that go into changing the internet as we know it, but this could be the beginning of a very sticky situation. We are part of generation that has grown with technology, it seems as if every time we come to another threshold in our lives, a massive technological advancment happens and we grow with it. This, could be the end of all of that.
What It Is:
Net Neutrality is sort of the internet's rule book. It's what allows us to have the endless options that make the internet in so worth it. Net Neutrality means an internet that allows and protects free speech. There's a chance that without net neutrality I wouldn't be writing this. It also allows us to use whatever browser, whatever website, whatever add-ons that we want, despite our internet provider and their corporate partners. It's like just because you use Verizon doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to call people who use Sprint. Your internet provider should not be able to control the content you see or the things you do on the internet.
Think Of It Like This:
Without net neutrality, cable/phone companies will be able to divide the internet into slow lanes and fast lanes. This could stop you from ordering a Domino's pizza because your provider partners with Papa John's and could even come down to blocking things like political content and news broadcast that challenge the principals of your providers.
Extra fees could be tacked on to social media sites and streaming services, or blocked entirely by certain providers, unless you could pay for the better services. This opens a whole nother lot of issues in the sense of which the internet is almost considered a basic freedom at this point. This would destroy the open internet. Schools and most pubic business offer free wi-fi to patrons, it's become something use in every aspect of our lives.
Why It Matters:
Open internet allows people of all different social, ethnic, racial and political backgrounds to rally for their purpose. What would be a movement of 200 turns into at least 20000 because of a Tweet or a Facebook Event. This happens because ISPs (internet service providers) aren't allowed to block out controversial content or things they don't approve of.
The mainstream media's perception of people of color alone has been disturbing and extremely biased. Open internet has allowed these people to spread their message, bring awareness to police brutality and the underlying racism that is still rooted in this country. The lack of diversity in the ownership of media companies could be a primary reason in the exploitation of people of color.
Without Net Neutrality, ISPs could block speech and prevent dissident voices from speaking freely online. Without Net Neutrality, people of color and any other oppressed/overlooked group in American society would lose a vital platform that makes them inexcusable and unavoidable.
In a country nearly over-run by corporations, the small business owners of the nation have taken to online to spread their product. We need the internet to remain open to provide job growth, entrepreneurship, market competition and diversity. Net neutrality makes the internet fair, and allows for barriers of entry to be nearly nonexistent into the market. It is because of Net Neutrality that small businesses and entrepreneurs have been able to thrive online.
No company should be allowed to interfere with our open market. ISPs are the internet’s gatekeepers, and without Net Neutrality, they would seize every possible opportunity to profit from that gatekeeper position.
Without Net Neutrality, the next Google or Facebook would never get off the ground. These companies are now some of the biggest in the world and it all started with an idea, and open internet. The next generation of geniuses could miss their shot because they can't get the right sponsors of the right part of the top 1% to believe in them.
What Do We Do Now:
Congress holds the power to reverse the FCC's vote. Contact your local representatives, make your voice heard. Make sure it's made very clear that the American people do not approve of this notion. We are the generation of change, regardless. You decide what change do you want that to be. Do you want to conform and miss out on the world at our fingertips? Or...or do you want to be the generation that fights for freedom and stands up for what's right?
You decide.
