I was upset to have had to miss class last week, but I look forward to our blockchain discussion on Monday!<\/p>\n
On the topic of online communities, let’s talk about net neutrality.<\/p>\n
For those of you who don’t know, the FCC recently released a statement detailing their plans to rid of the laws that ensure equal and fair access to the internet for everyone. ISPs like Comcast and Verizon are forbidden from charging more for access to specific websites, censoring certain pages, and throttling your connection to many websites because of these laws.<\/p>\n
The first red flag that should make the American people wonder if the FCC’s plan is actually to the benefit of the consumer is the fact that the plan was released the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.<\/a> Seemingly, the FCC was hoping no one was paying attention \u2014 they were wrong, and the internet has been in an uproar.<\/p>\n Before we delve into\u00a0why\u00a0<\/em>net neutrality is being threatened, let’s talk about what\u00a0exactly\u00a0<\/em>net neutrality is. The Merriam-Webster definition<\/a> is:<\/p>\n The idea, principle, or requirement that\u00a0Internet service providers<\/a>\u00a0should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In 2013-14, Comcast greedily demanded a direct payment from Netflix for a “fast-lane” access for Comcast’s customers to Netflix. Since Netflix takes up so much bandwidth for movie streaming, Comcast felt justified in asking Netflix to pay up, whereas other companies remained unscathed. That led to this<\/a> scary graph:<\/p>\n EDIT: The image I included isn’t appearing, I suggest you check out the graph HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n Comcast essentially held Netflix hostage until people could barely access Netflix, in Jan 2014 when speeds bottomed out, and Netflix caved and offered to pay Comcast. This interaction is the perfect example of an internet without net neutrality.<\/p>\n There are many key players in the destruction of the right to fair access to the web.<\/p>\n Politicians<\/strong><\/p>\n You may wonder: how does a politician choose whether to support the censorship of the internet? It’s easy!<\/p>\n Ted Cruz has come out in vehement support of slashing net neutrality, which would allow Comcast and other ISPs to make a\u00a0lot\u00a0<\/em>more money. He hilariously called net neutrality\u00a0\u00a0“Obamacare for the internet.”<\/a> I wonder if he’s pandering to a voter-base.<\/p>\n At first, I was shocked that anyone could support this policy. Then I poked around and saw that Comcast donated\u00a0$36,148 to Cruz’s Senate campaign.<\/a><\/p>\n Take a look at this list<\/a> of politicians Comcast has supported and see which of them support net neutrality!<\/p>\n Ajit Pai<\/strong><\/p>\n Pai, the current head of the FCC, is spearheading the gutting of net neutrality. Read about him here<\/a>. You may be interested to know he’s a former lawyer for Verizon!<\/p>\n ISPs<\/strong><\/p>\n Verizon recently released this video<\/a>\u00a0regarding net neutrality. The Verge released this article<\/a> fact-checking every statement made in the video. ISPs have essentially been asking that we remove the open internet laws and they’ll just…”voluntarily agree” not to take advantage of the lack of regulations until better ones can be agreed upon.<\/p>\n