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This stuff is pretty amazing

Net Neutrality issue facing the Tech Industry Today 02/25/15

What is Net Neutrality?

Taken from website: http://lifehacker.com/5720407/an-introduction-to-net-neutrality-what-it-is-what-it-means-for-you-and-what-you-can-do-about-it

As its name indicates, net neutrality is about creating a neutral internet. The basic principle driving net neutrality is that the internet should be a free and open platform, almost like any other utility we use in our home (like electricity). Users should be able to use their bandwidth however they want (as long as it’s legal), and internet service providers should not be able to provide priority service to any corner of the internet. Every web site (whether it’s Google, Netflix, Amazon, or UnknownStartup.com) should all be treated the same when it comes to giving users the bandwidth to reach the internet-connected services they prefer. Your electric company has no say over how you use your electricity—they only get to charge you for providing the electricity. Net neutrality aims to do something similar with your internet pipes.

I'd like to share some thoughts on the issue of Net Neutrality an issue that has just recently been ruled on by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

I was intrigued at how this issue is so extensive and complicated, yet also should be so fundamental as our own Human Rights. Net Neutrality, at is core, is the concept that everyone should have an equal platform on which to receive content. Any content provider should be able to transmit this data to us at a similar bandwith and not be regulated by the internet service providers (ISPs), which in general are now only a few big players, such as Comcast and AT&T. The ISPs are actually in favor of charging higher rates to companies (content providers) in exchange for preferential treatment in delivering content to end users, in the form of faster speeds or larger bandwith.

This practice of providing a faster internet content based on a pay scale that the content provider pays goes against a notion of an equal platform for content providers. Also as end users we would have our content regulated by ISPs. Both of these concepts go against the ideal of Net Neutrality.

I'd like to mention also that Net Neutrality is also related to our Human Rights and Freedom of Speech. We should have the right to view content as we wish. We should not be regulated by an internet service provider which could possibly regulate data we see. This view is of course different according to each country's government in which the regulation is taking place and every country has a different standard of human rights.

Another implication of the ruling on Net Neutrality and the laws that follow from it is related on the architecture and wiring of the internet. Really the way the internet is constructed will be a mirror of the laws on how the internet will be governed.

The effects of Net Neutrality also have a huge impact on the concept of a free, equal online market place within the US Economy. If larger companies such as Google and Netflix, Amazon pay ISPs pay for higher bandwidth and are able to market their websites to a larger number of people more quickly, smaller companies will not be able to compete on the internet. Competition will decrease, and equal an market place will move towards one that is favoring larger companies that are able to harness more viewers. All of these concepts go against the Freedoms that are associated with US Capitalism and economic prosperity.

Taken from website: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/211607-franken-net-neutrality-is-first-amendment-issue-of-our-time

“Do we want deep-pocketed corporations controlling what information you get at what speed?” -Al Franken Franken, who has been a critical supporter of the concept of net neutrality, said that other members of Congress simply don’t understand the way the Internet works. “This has been the architecture of the Internet from the beginning, and everyone should understand that,” he said.

Just Today, 02/26/2015 The FCC Ruled on this issue:

FCC Passes Strict Net Neutrality Regulations On 3-2 Vote. This means that the American ideals of Capitalism, and Freedom of Speech seem to be protected under Federal Law.

Before doing research on this topic I had no idea about the depth and impact of the FCC decision had on so many important aspects of our lives for years to come. As an American I feel proud to know that the United States has spoken towards keeping the Internet and our thoughts and views our own. The government can recognize even in these modern times that these rights can be violated. The decision constructs a framework in which basic principles of Human Rights and Economic Competition are upheld and maintained. This gives us freedom to experience different views that are not controlled by a large corporation or government. It's truly principles on which the United States was founded.

What is the Federal Communications Commision?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government, created by Congressional statute (see 47 U.S.C. § 151 and 47 U.S.C. § 154) to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the media, public safety and homeland security. The Commission is also in the process of modernizing itself.