When you check your email, or watch a movie on Netflix, or log onto Facebook, everything usually works without a hitch. If you've got pedestrian internet speeds, you can usually do all those things without a long loading or buffering screen. You can access any website you want, watch any video, download anything, without restriction. The internet as we know it is a free and open digital landscape when you plant your own adventure and explore to your minds end. This is all thanks to Net Neutrality,
But all that will change.
Ajit Pai, Trump's appointed FCC chairman, wants to get rid of Net Neutrality. Why is this such a big deal? I'll tell you why. Imagine you get on Netflix and want to watch a movie, but you can barely get one going. It's so slow, the quality is bad, and you can't go more than 2 minutes without it having to buffer and reload. But you're neighbor right next to you has crystal clear quality and can watch any movie at high definition quality and super speeds. You've both got Time Warner Cable, so what's the deal? Well turns out your neighbor pays more for his internet than you do, so without Net Neutrality, Time Warner can make his connection faster and slow yours down on purpose for whatever reason they want. And they can do it for any website too. They can block you from accessing certain websites that they don't agree with, they could block content and hide you from parts of the internet. They basically get to become the internet sheriff and decide everything for their customers and make them pay for it. Want to get Facebook and Twitter? You'll have to pay extra for that. Want Netflix and Hulu? You'll have to pay an extra price just to access those. The phone and cable companies get complete and total control over the internet, and I don't know why anyone would want that.
Well, actually, I do.
It's the Republicans and people who only care about money, that's who. This attack on the internet is no different than the attacks on the EPA, deregulating everything. What they don't realize is the regulations in place regarding the internet are there to protect it, not to let the government control it.
So, here's the gist. We can't let the lobbyists and rich telecom owners win this. We need to protect the internet. Here's what you can do, let your voice be heard. If you need additional info here's a great video from John Oliver:
Then you need to go here: https://www.battleforthenet.com/
There you can fill out your info and send a quick letter to the FCC as well as automatically be connected to your local representative to let your voice be heard. We have to work together to stop this from happening. The internet needs to be a free and open place with out the strings being pulled from above by the rich telecom owners.
Fight back, resist, and save the internet.
