Five people who were not elected got together today and voted to eliminate Net Neutrality in a 3-2 vote. Three of these people previously worked for companies we are trying to regulate. If you are not familiar with this fight, shame on you! This is one of the biggest dangers to online freedom and keeping the monopolies from getting even worse than they are now.
Ajit Pai used to work for Verizon and publically jokes how he is a Verizon Shill and is now the Chairman of the F.C.C. The moment he was put in office, it was clear Net Neutrality was his target.
WTF is Net neutrality
Net Neutrality prevents Internet Service Providers from changing Internet speeds based on how much you pay them. This allows them to charge insane amounts of money to Netflix in a way of double billing for bandwidth that has already been paid for. This in effect also allows them to censor any site or organization they do not agree with or do not pay them enough by throttling bandwidth.
This gives Comcast and other companies the ability to decide what websites are successful by throttling competition and messages they don't agree with. Sites like Steemit where they have no influence will be throttled to a trickle because the lack of centralized organization to pay them large amounts of money and the fact they cannot control the conversation here.
What does this mean to me?
There is a famous infographic that puts this in perspective, but it is far from the real truth. There is so much more than just higher prices. Free speech and capitalism are at risk.
Not only will consumers get screwed into paying even more for the Internet, providers like Shitcast will be able to charge 2, 3, 4+ times for the same service as they charge anyone who wants the speed they currently have today in a free Internet. Companies like Netflix have already given millions to Comcast a month to prevent throttling even though it wasn't even legal to do so. Small businesses? Forget it, you won't stand a chance. Sites like Steemit? Will be the slowest on the net, at least in America, the home of the free!
Net Neutrality has been a target for a long time and every time we are about to lose the fight, we get a stay of execution or a small victory. But like security, the hacker only has to win once to be victorious, every small victory we won was just maintaining status quo. It just takes one victory for the anti-Net Neutrality party to burn everything you know and love down to the ground.
We fucked?
More than likely, yes. But there is still some hope for a free Internet.
The Congress has a bill in the works to counter this position. EFF, Free Press advocacy group, and other groups are fighting to overturn this decision in the Courts. The fight isn't over, but it is a massive blow that may be the death knell of the Internet you know and love.
What can I do?
Complacency is the enemy of freedom. If you want to stop this madness, contact your congress representatives, tell them you won't stand for this. Explain Net Neutrality and what happens when it comes burning down to your friends, family, anyone who will listen.
There are lots of resources to assist you in doing this, have a look at Battleforthenet as a good starting point.
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