Net Neutrality and Why We're All Screwed

Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers shouldn't be allowed to dictate which websites you go to, what you share, what companies you can shop from, which applications you can run, slow down speeds, charge seporates prices for different services, etc. The idea of net neutrality is essentially that we have the right to communicate and operate freely online. In 2015 these online rights gained legal protection under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 by reclassifying ISPs as "common carriers" instead of "information providers" which gave the Federal Communications Commission the authority to keep ISPs in check to ensure they don't put a damper on net neutrality. Since then, the new FCC chairman Ajit Pai has been working to reverse the protections made in 2015 because he believes that the current system is too heavy handed and he believes that a lighter approach is more beneficial in a free market system. Under normal circumstance I would totally agree with him. Capitalism is the best economic ideology man has ever created and free markets work the best, competition breeds innovation, improvements and lower prices. The issue here is that there is a lack of competition amongst ISPs because they often show regional dominance with little crossover, meaning that if you don't like your ISP you would most likely have to move to a different area where a different ISP is present. When Shadrach White came to class and spoke to us he mentioned how could storage is similar to a utility just like electricity or water. The analogy works for ISPs in the same way because both utilities and ISPs are dependent on an established infrastructure. So to continue the utility analogy, if you aren't satisfied with Tacoma Public Utilities you will have to move out of Tacoma and into a new region to be able to access a new utility provider. The vote to remove net neutrality from Title II protection will take place December 14th, 2017.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Email Ripped Off Snail Mail

Just like the online shopping cart mimics the original, so too does email mimic the postal service. Similarities Sending and receiving correspondence  Attaching pictures to a "letter"  Both mediums are sent to and from addresses Both are not sent directly to the recipient, but instead sent to a "mailroom" for organization and processing before they are sent to the recipient. Both are vulnerable to the information in the correspondence to be seen by people who aren't the recipient Both are susceptible to spam and viruses  Differences  Email can be used to send the same correspondence to multiple recipients Snail mail is limited to one recipient per letter Email is much faster than snail mail Email can attach files, programs, applications, videos, etc.  Hand written letters cannot be seen unless the letter is in your possession and opened, while emails can easily be seen through computer witchcraft.  Emails will only be sent to exact addres
Read more

Mr. Hanberg?

I'm not completely sure what our guest speaker's name was from last week, but I'm fairly sure that his name was Mr. Hanberg and for simplicity's sake that is what I'm going to call him. The main point I took away from his speech was that he specialized in small nonprofits and it made me think of internet jobs in a different way. Men like Bill Gates and Steve jobs make ridiculous amounts of money from massive corporations, then you have men like Mr. Fry who also made serious money in smaller companies, and then you had Mr. Hanberg who was making small money off of small business, yet he still hadn't worked a full time job in many years. As Mr. Hanberg was telling us about his work as an author he drew a rough graph explaining the success curve for authors and it makes sense that that same curve would apply to his internet businesses as well. Just as it is difficult to be a super successful author, such as Steven King, due to the challenges of massive producti
Read more

Goals for this course

I've grown up exposed to computers, phones, wifi, etc. and I understand how to use them, but I don't understand how they work. I can drive the car, but I don't know what's under the hood. Our lives are going to become increasingly more saturated with technology, so knowledge of the machine will prove useful. I'm also interested in the history behind computers and the internet because technologies move at such a fast rate that old technology seems long forgotten. I was cleaning out my garage and I found a box with VHS tapes in it. When I was looking through the box my 8 year old nephew asked what they were and I had to explain to him that there was once a time before wifi. He looked at me as in astonishment and said "thats rough". Hopefully this class can open my eyes to the technologies before my time and I can share in my nephew's astonishment. From the time we've spent in class so far I've determined that I'm terrified of technology a
Read more