Why Should I Care?

‘’Why should I care?’’ contrary to what people would have you believe is a fair question, and often the correct answer is you shouldn’t. This is the age of the 24 hour news cycle, where any fool with a word processor and an internet connection (ahem) can and will write a blog on any niche subject from the odd to the downright bizarre. I am of the opinion that quite a bit of the information being shovelled around is only worthy of apathy. Trouble is with the sheer volume of issues that we are asked to care about on a daily basis how do we know that we’ve made the right decision. Well, rest easy the aim of this… well, I haven’t exactly nailed down what this is yet, is to shuck the wheat from the chaff.

Now to the first topic as selected by my lovely assistant Brianna is… drum roll… (There was no drum roll) ‘’Net Neutrality’’ Ok for those of you who are unaware of the concept net neutrality is the belief that governments and companies should treat all data on the internet equally regardless of its source, And not favour or block websites/products. Simple right, okay so let’s look at what that actually means. Without neutrality your internet provider has no obligation allow you to equal access information, especially if it’s contrary to their interests for example they might own or have made a deal with a video streaming site which they would prefer you use. So they might add an additional charge to use another similar site, In effect forcing a change in the flow of customers and money to their choice not yours. So what’s the problem? Some people myself included have this silly notion that the internet should be a level playing field and that by allowing fair competition people will choose the service they want. Overall everything I...

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... socialists, liberals, greens and other left blocs. While I won’t go into the details of the language, let’s face fact it was legislation passed through the European parliament it’s long winded and boring as watching painted grass grow dry (or something like that). Anyway this move has being widely praised.

So now we have my short summary and view on the subject, I suppose it’s time we get to the point at hand, should you care? This is the Information age like the Bronze and Iron Age before; it was named for the substance that would shape it. Whoever controls the flow of information controls the world, the ability to frame the context around news stories and issues is an incredible power one that we should be wary of. In conclusion yes you should care about net neutrality but if you find yourself bringing it up too often you’ll run the risk of becoming that guy.