The concept
of net neutrality thus far has meant that there are no restrictions of any kind
on the Internet. It has guaranteed that
there are no slow-downs in data uploads or downloads, and that no content on
the web will be blocked. It also says
that ISPs should not be able to restrict or discriminate against any type of
Internet user, and every Web site and Web searcher will be treated
equally.
For the most part, I am totally against regulations that
would jeopardize net neutrality. If net neutrality gets voted down, a possible
occurrence could be that there will be tiered data plans for Internet usage,
similar to the tiered plans for data that were introduced into the cell phone
world. A few years ago, when I bought my
first smartphone, the plan I had gave me unlimited data. I have resisted upgrading my smartphone for
the last 3 years because when I do, I will be forced to choose one of those
tiered data plans. I don’t like the idea of someone telling me what I should or
should not do when downloading or uploading data to my phone.
As far as businesses are concerned, I don’t think I would
like it even if large corporations like Netflix were charged more money for
their Internet access. Netflix seems to be one of the first in line that is
going to be affected by the change in net neutrality that took place on January
16th of this year. From what
I’ve read about net neutrality, it seems that discrimination that is going to be
allowed to take place – providers like Verizon can charge companies based on
the bandwidth they use. As a consumer,
user of a smartphone, and a customer of Netflix, I think this whole idea stinks,
and plan to write my Congressman about it.
There are many different opinions on the Internet right
now – some people claim net neutrality is dead, and others claim the opposite,
and some say we are just at a “fork in the road”. Check out this site:
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