by John Young
For those who might not be aware of the issue, Net Neutrality has been in effect among providers since the dawn of the Internet. What it specifies is that all traffic, without regard to point of origin or destination or its content will be given the same priority over other carrier networks.
The Internet has been a tremendous equalizer, giving small fry the same access to a person’s eyes as a giant media conglomerate. It has allowed smaller political campaigns to grow in size and support. It has allowed alternative news sites with every imaginable bent to thrive. But a key element that makes this possible is Net Neutrality.
Without Net Neutrality, major carriers and ISPs can make websites unbearably slow unless the owners of those sites give them a fee. The days of the Internet being an equalizer where one’s voice is judged by its quality rather than its size will be OVER.
A number of major carriers and ISPs such as Comcast have put a tremendous amount of pressure on regulators to weaken Net Neutrality.
At this point, FCC Chairman Genachowski is poised to deliver a set of weak regulations that will leave Net Neutrality seriously compromised, giving the mega-corporations exactly what they want.
I am not exaggerating that this has the potential to effectively remove dissent from the Internet. Would you be willing to wait 10 minutes for this page to display because we didn’t have $1M to pay to Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and others? It is a way of censoring anyone without deep pockets.
Therefore, I encourage you to go to SaveTheInternet.Com and sign their http://act2.freepress.net/sign/real_net_neutrality/?source=STIhomepage today. Time is of the essence, as without dissent, new regulations will be promulgated on December 21st.