Look at the image above and identify the familiar sites that you frequently visit. Now see the price on the right of it? What if cable companies and internet providers charged you based on the websites you visit and the various functions you need?
Looking at television, you already see this with Comcast or DirectTV and their channel packages. To get the premium channels there is an upcharge. Want to watch Game of Thrones? Then that will be an extra $30 dollars added to the $100 you are already paying for cable. This scenario could be in the distant future for consumers if net neutrality is taken away.
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers must treat all data on the internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. Essentially, the internet should be a place that is not regulated by the government or media conglomerates.
I’ve read the book 1984 by George Orwell and sacrificing Net Neutrality would bring us as a society one step closer to a dystopian reality. A little bit of background about the novel, it was written in 1948 when there was fear of global war and Orwell describes a totalitarian dystopia that is characterised by government control and subjugation of the people. Every method of communication would be monitored and controlled. Without Net Neutrality, internet providers can speed up, slow down, or block any applications or websites you want to use. I say fight for a free internet because that is the way it has always been!
Save The Internet: What You Need to Know
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