The FCC is about to roll back net neutrality. This will be bad for consumers, and I urge you contact the FCC and let them know that you want them to support – rather than abolish – net neutrality. Some may ask: What is net neutrality? This is a complex concept to explain, but let’s give it a shot.
Net neutrality makes the Internet like a phone. With a phone, you can contact anyone you want by dialing their number. The phone company has no say in who you call, and doesn’t give you a “bad” or “good” connection depending on who you call. Likewise, anyone can call you and each caller gets the same service from the phone company(s).
With a net neutrality based internet, the same applies to network-based services like email, online entertainment, or online shopping. The network provider has no say in who you contact, what movie you watch (or which movie service you use), or which on-line shops you frequent. The network provider cannot favor any content or service over another, or provide better connections for some over another.
Without net neutrality, however, your service provider can favor their own or partner services over that of a competitor. For instance, if your service provider has a paid arrangement with Amazon, they might give Amazon services a high-speed connection to its customers. However, if an Amazon competitor like NetFlix does not have a similar arrangement, services from that vendor might be slow or difficult to reach. In the theoretically extreme, a service provider could block access to services that did not pay or redirect those requests to someone who did.
How would you feel if when you tried to call WalMart you were given a poor connection, or were connected to Amazon instead? How would you feel if your telephone company gave you a list of companies you could call and a list you could not call based on whether or not they paid “protection” to your telephone provider?
Net neutrality is important. Call the FCC and fight for your right to an independent, unrestricted Internet.