Join TechLaurels in this Day of Action,
Protecting Net Neutrality
Techlaurels opposes the FCC’s plan to slash Title II, the legal foundation for net neutrality rules that protect online free speech and innovation.
On July 12, 2017, websites, Internet users, and online communities are uniting to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on net neutrality.
Right now, new FCC Chairman and former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai have plans to destroy net neutrality. They want to give big cable companies total control over what we see and do online. If they get their way, the FCC will give companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T control over what we can see and do on the Internet, with the power to slow down or block websites, and to charge apps and sites extra fees to reach an audience.
In practical terms, this means Comcast could potentially throttle Netflix's bandwidth, so that their own pay-per-view movies would stream flawlessly, while Netflix buffered and sputtered along. They could charge extra for users to use Gmail, or filter it heavily, in order to almost force their users to be tied to a Comcast e-mail address. Spectrum could potentially block the use of competing apps and services on any connected Smart TVs. The ISPs would have control of what is allowed to flow through their pipes, as well as the speed at which individual apps or services flow. With our limited choice in providers, the end users are sure to suffer. Consumers already hate throttling due to data caps; can you imagine if throttling by provider was actually sanctioned by the Government? It's almost like advocating Jim Crow laws for cyberspace.
If we lose net neutrality, we could soon face an Internet where some of your favorite websites are forced into a slow lane online, while deep-pocketed companies who can afford expensive new “prioritization” fees have special fast lane access to Internet users – tilting the playing field in their favor. You can be sure there are no more "viral superstars" that are not ISP sponsored. Independent artists will be forced back into unfair distribution systems, as they will not be able to afford the fees they'll be charged for audio traffic. I shudder to think of the potential consequences.
