Neutrality Of The Internet Essay

830 Words2 Pages

It’s been named a fad, designated as doomed to collapse, and even populated with entertaining cat videos. The Internet we use today is not much older than a teenager. It’s a college student ready to enter the workforce and realize its full potential. But already, the Internet has undergone significant changes and revolutionized society. Over the next five years, developments in speed, bandwidth, and accessibility will continue to be made. These improvements will allow sharing information, connecting with family, and conducting business online to become easier than ever. While the Internet has improved society in many ways, potential problems have risen with its increasing popularity. The rise of a data driven society has lead to the fear of an Orwellian society similar to the one in “Minority Report”. In this movie, the path of a persons’ life is predetermined and free choice is non existent. A more realistic concern, however, is the Internet falling under the control of powerful corporations, causing free speech to be stifled. The best way to alleviate this concern is to safeguard net neutrality, the principle which keeps the Internet free and open. …show more content…

But recently, large Internet service providers have lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to rule against net neutrality. Under the rules of net neutrality, access to all websites and web services must remain equal. Anyone is able to start their own website and make it accessible to anyone on the web. Without net neutrality, wealthy corporations could pay to have their online services promoted – and rival services blocked, prohibiting competition. Without net neutrality, ISP’s could also purposefully slowdown websites and demand extra fees from customers to speed them up. Imagine paying your ISP an additional five dollars a month just to access to

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