Net Neutrality

I didn’t realize how controversial “Net Neutrality” was until I read this article Why You Should Care About Net Neutrality in dire search for a topic to blog about for this class.

I found myself nodding to the first sentence, “You've probably heard the term or read it online and simply skipped past it without a second thought. Maybe it seemed abstract, arcane or a bit geeky, not something you as an Internet user needed to worry about.” By the time I finished reading the article, I was actually more confused with all the politics behind the issue albeit agreeing with one thing – that the Internet should remain an open and neutral network as it was intended to be. After all, if regulation would actually mean having “gatekeepers” that would monitor content and restrict access to the Internet in favor of certain companies then we might as well have given them a hand in making “social classes” out of us users.

Another article described the scenario as a “cabin of an airplane where there is first-class content for those willing to pay a premium and basic services for everyone else.” I have yet to scrutinize the arguments of both sides though. Until then, my position would be to defend today’s greatest equalizer which is the Internet.