Net Neutrality, and Why You Should Care

Recently, one of my Colleagues briefly wrote about what Net Neutrality is and why it has been in the news so much recently. I figured I would expand upon it more by explaining why we should all be against the Federal Communication Commission's efforts to repeal net neutrality. Disclaimer: This article contains my personal opinions on net neutrality, and my opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of Harding University.

Like Garrett wrote, under current legislation, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have to abide by Net Neutrality. This means that they have to treat all data sent over the internet the same and cannot slow or speed up connections to certain websites for whatever reason. If Net Neutrality is repealed, ISPs will have free reign to speed up or slow down connections to whichever website they please. This might not seem too bad. Besides, maybe your ISP would decide to speed up connection to Netflix. However, it won't work like that. Without Net Neutrality, ISPs will have the power to demand serious amounts of money from large companies that need fast connections. Since most ISPs (DirecTV, Comcast, Verizon, and others) provide internet as well as cable TV and are in direct competition with companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and YouTube, you can bet your bottom dollar that ISPs will make media streaming companies pay top dollar for a fast connection to users. 

Those companies mentioned before won't have any trouble paying the premium for a quick connection, but all of that extra cost will be directed straight to us as consumers. Netflix would be forced to raise prices for consumers in order to remain profitable. On top of that, small businesses that rely on internet sales would be forced to stay in the slow lane of the internet, unable to pay for a premium connection. Additionally, we as consumers could be forced to pay for each aspect of the internet that we want access to. Presently, we pay a flat rate for connection to all of the internet and pay more or less based on the speed we want. Without net neutrality, we could have to purchase different internet packages. Want connection to social media sites? That'll be 11.99 a month. Want connection to Media streaming? That's another 11.99 a month, on top of already paying for the subscription to whichever media streamer you want to use. Some estimates show that internet could end up costing around twice as much as before. 

 Repealing Net Neutrality favors Large Companies over small businesses and consumers. The government should be protecting the desires of the greater good, not granting favor to whoever has the most money. It has been uplifting to watch the battle take place over net neutrality. It is encouraging to see the people's voices heard whenever they feel passionate about an issue. If the FCC wins and net neutrality is somehow repealed, I will be deeply discouraged. That loss would represent a massive amount of corruption within our country, as the loss of net neutrality seems to only favor large businesses which could be contributing money to lawmakers in order to sway the vote in their favor. Don't just take my word for it, do your own research and decide how you feel about Net Neutrality.