America could easily mistake its head for its ass. The fact that some subjects are even debatable shows not only the gullibility of humanity, but the insidious influence that power-hungry corporations have over the officials that we elect into office. The two main debates of the moment are that of healthcare reform and that of Net Neutrality. As a rational, compassionate, middle-to-lower-class, independent consumer, these two initiatives get a giant thumbs up from me; they address exactly what I am concerned about as an individual and as a society. Healthcare reform has been in the news for months now and you've probably already made up your mind about it, so I am going to focus this article on Net Neutrality.
Net Neutrality is the policy of preventing data providers (companies who own the cables, routers and switches that internet traffic flows through) from arbitrarily restricting or redirecting traffic to or from any source. In other words, AT&T is not allowed to prevent you from accessing its competitor's networks and websites, nor is it allowed to charge you extra for accessing bandwidth-heavy sites like YouTube or Hulu. This is a good thing. In fact, if you read over the 6 tenets of the Net Neutrality proposal (more on that a little later), you'll be left scratching your head and wondering why anyone with a conscience would ever oppose such decent terms.
The answer to that is money and power. AT&T and Verizon, along with many of their fellow ISPs and the politicians that they contribute money towards are all against Net Neutrality. This is because it is a policy that prevents them from capitalizing on the prime real estate that they've already staked out now that the internet has established itself. What you need to understand is that Net Neutrality has always existed in principle and now these companies are trying to repeal it through litigation and misinformed debate. Do not be fooled into considering their point of view because you will get nothing in return.
The necessity for Net Neutrality transcends convention. Whether you believe in socialism or capitalism, Net Neutrality should appear to you as the lifeblood policy of our society's future. Privatizing internet traffic will lead to stagnation, much the same way privatized healthcare has cannibalized itself in search of profit over service. The internet has become a huge part of our civilization, but its reach and utility is still in its infancy. Handing control of the traffic flow to a self-interested corporation is tantamount to selling the internet's soul. The internet owes its rapid growth and innovative environment to the policy of Net Neutrality, but as the companies that own the networks that support the internet's backbone seek to exert more control, we find ourselves vulnerable to the greed and misuse of power that we have come to expect from giant, faceless corporations.
Beyond all of the rhetoric that one can use to paint a bleaker picture, we can use logic to understand the opposition. For instance, John McCain, who admits to not even being interested in computers or the internet, who could not be a worse candidate to extol the plight of network sovereignty, has proposed the sinisterly named "Internet Freedom Act" that seeks to give all the freedom to the service providers while shafting all of the consumers (that's you and me). Even a staunch capitalist can see the flaw in this design. This is an example of a senator who cannot, by virtue of his own admittance, understand the effects of what he has proposed beyond their financial and political implications. We know that we cannot let people who do not understand the internet create policy to govern it. Furthermore, we can assume that someone so unfamiliar with the territory he is treading upon has been coerced there by parties interested in using him as a mouthpiece.
Let's go over the Net Neutrality policy, just so that we're all on the same page. Here are the 6 tenets of Net Neutrality that the FCC has come up with and I think you'll find them all astoundingly reasonable:
Under the draft rules, subject to reasonable network management, a provider of broadband Internet access service may not:
1) prevent any of its users from sending or receiving the lawful content of the user’s choice over the Internet;
2) prevent any of its users from running the lawful applications or using the lawful services of the user’s choice;
3) prevent any of its users from connecting to and using on its network the user’s choice of lawful devices that do not harm the network;
4) deprive any of its users of the user’s entitlement to competition among network providers, application providers, service providers, and content providers.
5) A provider of broadband Internet access service must treat lawful content, applications, and services in a nondiscriminatory manner.
6) A provider of broadband Internet access service must disclose such information concerning network management and other practices as is reasonably required for users and content, application, and service providers to enjoy the protections specified in this rulemaking.
Here's the summary: FCC says, "Hey ISPs, don't fuck around with your honest users." The response? "But we want to."
This cannot be put any clearer: if you oppose Net Neutrality, you are EVIL. You are either a power-mongering fiend or a complicit pawn.
I offer this information not because I think you don't support Net Neutrality, but because I fear that many people may not be aware of how important it is. They may have heard about it before and dismissed it as some nerdy debate. It goes beyond any geeky point of contention. Net Neutrality affects how much you pay for utilities, how you talk to your friends, how you use the internet, how new interconnected technologies are developed and how our civilization grows around this amazing network of ideas. If you never thought to before, speak up and do not let our future fall into the hands of the parsimonious degenerates who only want control.
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