Let's Talk About Net Neutrality
In January of 2017, President Trump designated Ajit Pai as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). On October 2nd, Pai was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve a five-year term. Pai has long been an advocate for less regulation on the internet. In 2015 he voted against the Open Internet Order, which started the downfall of Net Neutrality under the Trump administration. In December 2016, Pai stated, "Net Neutrality's days were numbered". Five months later on May 18th, 2017 the FCC took the first formal steps in dismantling Net Neutrality. November 21, he took the next step by announcing that a vote will be held on December 14 on whether or not to repeal it.
So, what does it mean for us if the Title II regulations get reversed? Well, let's look at Portugal, who doesn't have Net Neutrality.
MEO is the main internet service provider in Portugal and they completely take advantage of no regulations. This means that in addition to the monthly fee that you pay to your ISP you have to pay an extra fee to have access to other apps. For example, if you would want to listen to some music on Spotify without it having to buffer every 5 seconds, you would need to pay an extra $5 per month, just for music. Say you want to stream Youtube or Netflix at a watchable speed, it's another $5, on top of the music package you just had to purchase to listen to Spotify.
That was Portugal, so what about the U.S.?
As of today, November 30th, Comcast has deleted a post saying that they "won't create paid fast lanes". Comcast is already going back on their work in preparation for the FCC repealing Net Neutrality.
Broh, if you use the internet, this should be something that terrifies you. It is a way for small, up and coming websites/services that want to become popular and larger, to just be smashed by their competition. This completely closes open markets on the internet. America was founded on the basis that everyone will have the same opportunity to do something. Is that an ideal that has just been lost over the years?
So, what does it mean for us if the Title II regulations get reversed? Well, let's look at Portugal, who doesn't have Net Neutrality.
MEO is the main internet service provider in Portugal and they completely take advantage of no regulations. This means that in addition to the monthly fee that you pay to your ISP you have to pay an extra fee to have access to other apps. For example, if you would want to listen to some music on Spotify without it having to buffer every 5 seconds, you would need to pay an extra $5 per month, just for music. Say you want to stream Youtube or Netflix at a watchable speed, it's another $5, on top of the music package you just had to purchase to listen to Spotify.
That was Portugal, so what about the U.S.?
As of today, November 30th, Comcast has deleted a post saying that they "won't create paid fast lanes". Comcast is already going back on their work in preparation for the FCC repealing Net Neutrality.
Broh, if you use the internet, this should be something that terrifies you. It is a way for small, up and coming websites/services that want to become popular and larger, to just be smashed by their competition. This completely closes open markets on the internet. America was founded on the basis that everyone will have the same opportunity to do something. Is that an ideal that has just been lost over the years?
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