Net Neutrality. Most people probably don’t even know what that means… I mean meant, now that it’s gone. What it meant is that anyone using the Internet could find any page in existence as fast as your Internet package would let you. It didn’t matter if it was a page made by the kid down the street or by a major news site, you got all of the Internet at the same speed.
Say goodbye to that now. Never mind the fact that Internet Neutrality was taken away from us against the will of the people (who overwhelmingly told their politicians we did not want it to change). In fact, the will of the people was so overwhelming that the politicians in Washington realized how bad this idea was, and rightfully let it die! But it never ends there. No, the FCC decided that we didn’t know what we were talking about, and they changed the laws to allow companies to pay more in order to have their webpages load faster.
What’s this mean for the average Joe? Oh, nothing much… but those of you who use Etsy as a side business are probably going to go out of business. The only way Esty will be able to keep up is if they pay more to get the higher speeds for their site… but they’ll have to make up those costs somewhere, and their best bet will be to charge the artists, crafters, and designers currently using those sites to make a bit of money. Video gamers are going to be out of luck too. Like paying $15 a month to play WoW? Get ready to see that amount of money to double, possibly triple, as Blizzard will likely pass some of their added costs on to us.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the companies who are going to have to start charging us just to keep a reasonable loading speed going. No, I’m blaming the FCC, who pushed this idiocy through against the will of the people. We spoke. We overwhelmingly told them: “We don’t want this.” Hell, WE CRASHED THEIR WEBSITE BECAUSE WE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE SAYING THIS WAS BAD!
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-fcc-website-net-neutrality-20140715-story.html
So, how did this manage to go through anyway? Because the FCC is an organization with too much power. It is a group of officials that were appointed to their positions without consulting the people. We didn’t want them. WE DON’T NEED THEM. They were assigned to provide “moral guidance” to TV and radio, and now they’re going after the Internet, an entity that they are too old and out of touch to understand. And the politicians currently in power are misguidedly allowing them to try pushing these things through, because, forgive my saying it, they’re too old and out of touch with the majority of the citizens to understand the way the world is going. They’ve been in their jobs in Washington for so long that if you asked them what a .gif was, they’d probably ask if you left the “t” off of the word “gift”.
More importantly, I’m blaming the FCC chairman, Tom Wheeler. After all, he has a CLEAR conflict of interest in this case, as he was the CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. He’s also known for lobbying in favour of his own business interests. And while I can admit that most people are unable to be 100% neutral when working for something that they’ve been in business doing, at the very least, they need to be able to dial their self-interests back in favour of the greatest good for the most people. Tom Wheeler is unable to do this, and so he’s unfit for his position and should be forced down if he can’t do his job with the least amount of bias possible.
When are the people of this country going to demand that their elected officials start representing us? Well, that’s a great idea, except our elected officials, in this one case, DID represent us. They let SOPA die, because the will of the people was strong enough to reach them. That’s why the FCC is running with it now - because they didn’t know how to take the hint. And right now, all the FCC represents is their own selfish interests, and the Internet is merely the latest casualty.
We’re already told what we cannot say, how we’re allowed to behave, what we’re allowed to hear on the radio or see on TV. Don’t let them tell us what we’re allowed to look for on the Internet as well. If this is important to you at all, do your research. Find out where to voice your displeasure, and let the FCC and our government know that we don’t want to lose Net Neutrality. The Internet was the last bastion of true freedom in the United States. At the very least, don’t let it’s current form slip away without a decent fight.
Long live the Free Internet
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