The internet you have come to know and love might be drastically changed for the worse.
The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) are meeting today to decide the fate of a regulation known as “Net Neutrality.”
Net Neutrality, to put it simply, is the idea that any sort of traffic from the internet must be treated equally, whether it comes from YouTube, Lancer Spirit Online, or the Comcast website. If Net Neutrality is to face repeal, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like Comcast, Verizon, etc. will be able to control what content you see, and the speed it will be provided at, and if you are able to access it at all.
ISPs do currently offer tiered level internet packages, ranging from $30-120 on the Comcast website, they come at a flat speed that will be provided across all websites. Without Net Neutrality, that will not be the case, and ISPs will have the ability to charge you for using services like YouTube, Netflix, etc. One possibility is they could require you to pay an additional $5 for simply using streaming services, another $5 for a “social media package,” the wallet squeezing possibilities are endless.
Much like your cable TV, a few gatekeepers will have full control of the internet, not the consumers.
Julian Sanchez, a member of the Cato Institute think tank, believes that ISPs will try “some things consumers don’t like” and will also find things that consumers will like. Sanchez suggested the most likely possibility, as opposed to what I mentioned above is, “the introduction of plans that provide higher speeds for specific bandwidth-intensive services.” Bandwidth-intensive services include websites like Netflix and other streaming services.
Based on the fact that Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services usually work quite well as it is, it’s more realistic to predict that ISPs will slow down the services and simply charge more to get back the speeds you lost. Even the best case scenario, as a result of the repeal, is still far worse than the open internet currently have. The Net Neutrality’s repeal is “a move cheered by nobody outside of major telecom companies and their trade groups,” journalist Jason Abbruzzese said.
The ruling today will affect everyone. Imagine having to pay extra fees just to post a tweet. Having to scrounge up some extra money to watch Mike and Eleven’s relationship flourish when Stranger Things Season 3 is released. There are endless possibilities of a dystopian future—all so some multi-billionaire ISP CEO can be the one percent of the one percent.
Keep your eyes on this issue—before they start charging you for that too.
Rhea Hernandez
Dec 14, 2017 at 7:54 am
I don’t care how good their lawyers are. If the Net Neutrality repeal would go to court, NO ONE will want to support this. At least no one except the government and anyone else who has the money and power to cooperate with the repeal, and that would only be a small percent of America’s population. Please someone care! This change will put another burden onto our school and our parents/adults in general. Please someone contact a government official to see their side of this issue, how exactly do they see this being beneficial to us the consumers, especially teenagers. I would love for someone to try and convince me to support this change. I mean really.