Net neutrality should be protected because it preserves our right to communicate swiftly online.
More than 2 billion people use the Internet worldwide and 70 percent of those individuals access it daily.
The Internet not only provides society with entertainment sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, but also delivers outlets for free speech and political action. The Internet access is a human right.
In March of this year, Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler proposed Internet rules allowing Internet Service Providers to charge content companies for priority treatment, forcing other forms of content to use a slower tier of service.
The New York Times explained these proposed rules for the open Internet by comparing it to truck deliveries.
If these rules were to go into affect, companies who are in favor of it, such as Netflix, could pay extra money to its ISPs so its content could be delivered on the first delivery truck, allowing its content to come swiftly.
Other companies, that cannot pay or choose not to, will have its content delivered…eventually.
If the FCC’s rules were to pass, Citrus College would not be able to afford the fast tier of service.
If you think Internet at Citrus is second-rate now, just wait to see how slow websites would load if this rule passes.
Not only would it slow Citrus’ Internet service but our Internet at home would also be annoyingly slow, unless you can afford to pay that extra amount of money to obtain the faster tier of service.
We as students would not be able to complete our school work as efficiently if our most used tool becomes sluggish.
Allowing Internet access to be prolonged is violating not only net neutrality, but citizens’ basic human rights.
The FCC should not promote restricting rules for the open Internet.
If these rules were passed ISPs such as AT&T, Comcast and Verizon would also be able to charge users more to access the Internet and make it harder for us to communicate online.
So far over 3.7 million people have opposed the FCC’s proposed rule.
Even President Barack Obama is against it.
“The idea of net neutrality has unleashed the power of the Internet and given innovators the chance to thrive.
Abandoning these principles would threaten to end the Internet as we know it,” Obama said in a video statement that can be viewed on The White House website.
If this FCC rule were to pass it would trample on our own constitution that built our nation due to the fact that it would limit the amount of information an individual can access because they could simply not afford the added Internet charges.
This conveys that our country advocates the idea that it is acceptable to disregard public interest if it assists the wealthy one percent.
Websites including Facebook, Google and Twitter, who are able to afford the fast lane, choose not to because they are against this rule.
The FCC has to treat the worldwide web for what it is meant to be: an equal utility.
As a society, we cannot let this happen. We have to take action now.
To protest against this law go to the Free Press website and sign a petition stating you are against the proposed rule.
It will then be sent to the FCC’s chairman Tom Wheeler.
The FCC should deliver the Internet the way we deserve, quickly and efficiently.
