Internet. The Web. Interweb.
No matter what you call it, nearly every person today has some sort of connection online. Email or social media, every person in today’s world is on the web in some capacity. The Internet has changed the way modern humans live and interact.
Now, what if your Internet service provider charged you an additional $10 a month to stream Netflix. This is in addition to the subscription fee that Netflix charges. Now, imagine you had to do that with every application or streaming service you use.
Right now the Open Internet Order protects users from being charged additional fees by ISPs for usage. This protection has become known under the umbrella term Net Neutrality.
The Open Internet Order that protects users from ISPs passed Feb. 26, 2015. This policy has seen immense public support. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, with support from the Oval Office, passed Net Neutrality protections declaring the Internet a Title II classification under the 1934 Communications Act. What you need to know is that this makes it a “common carrier,” meaning that ISPs have to carry all lawful content equally.
The Oval Office has had a change of the guard and with it ushered in a new FCC Chairman. Chairman Ajit Pai has been an outspoken advocate against Net Neutrality laws. He is currently working to dismantle them.
Imagine being a small business owner? Well, it is going to cost you to put up that website and have bandwidth interactivity with your clients. Pull a little too much this month with all those site visits? That is an uptick in dollars for innovation by the competition if you’re an entrepreneur without large amounts of company funding. Yeah, you will have to pay somebody to host that site still. If you use prebuilt sites by Weebly or other like services, it will cost you. In addition to this, which you pay now, your ISP will charge for every click a client clocks.
That is what the dismantling of Net Neutrality means. So, how can we stop this from happening?
Write Governor Bill Haslam, Senator Bob Corker or any official in our national government and show your support for Net Neutrality. Go online to change.org and sign the petition to stop this from happening.
Stand now to show the D.C. establishment that we the people will not let big businesses silence us through erroneous charges. The Internet is not a luxury to be held on a stick by AT&T, Verizon, Comcast or any other carrier. It is a necessity for innovation, communication and the economy to grow.
