Topic > Net Neutrality: Freedom vs. Order

Net neutrality requires Internet service providers to allow access to all content and applications regardless of source and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. Internet providers like Comcast and Verizon should not control what we see and do online. In 2015, internet freedom groups and 3.7 million commenters won strict net neutrality rules from the U.S. Federal Communication Commission. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The rules prohibit Internet providers from blocking and giving paid priority to "fast lanes" for sites that pay and slow lanes for everyone else. Without net neutrality, internet providers could control and tax the internet, which is why they want it to end. Net neutrality is connected to our class theme, Freedom vs. Order, because if we don't defend which right our freedom will be taken away. We must stop these vicious attacks on our freedoms: freedom of information, freedom of speech, freedom of enterprise, and the freedom to choose which products and services we use. If we let the government take away our right to a neutral Internet, it will rarely be returned to the public. During times of national crisis is when the government must increase order and decrease freedom, but where is the crisis with net neutrality? The crisis will come from workers, students and average American families if net neutrality is eliminated as an equal right for all. Internet today can be expensive for some Americans, imagine having to pay more than one “bundle” from your Internet provider to have access to your daily needs. The repeal appears to only benefit internet service providers. On December 14, the Federal Communication Commission will vote on restoring Internet freedom to order. This could be the “end of the Internet as we know it.” It has been occurring intermittently for many years. It increased in 2014, then again following the adoption of the Open Internet Order on February 26, 2015. “Open Internet” is what everyone wants but hardly thinks about regularly. Then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell provided four guiding principles of Internet Freedom in 2004: the freedom to access legal content on the Internet, to use applications, to connect personal devices to the network, and to obtain information about plans of service. In 2005, the Federal Communication Commission supported these principles in its Internet Policy Statement and allowed a truly open Internet to thrive without burdensome regulation or government interference for 10 years. The potential abrogation of what should be a civic right should terrify Americans. When a country doesn't have an open internet, the government is able to do anything from simply blocking or outright banning apps to more aggressive moves like Egypt actually shutting down its internet service providers. While we have free speech, we also have billions of dollars from for-profit lobbyists acting as a barrier against our interests. The top 10 lobbyists included AT&T, which spent $16.3 million, and Comcast, which spent $14.3 million. Verizon spent $10 million and T-Mobile spent $8 million. AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and the NCTA have spent over half a billion dollars trying to destroy net neutrality. Several cable companies are considered the most hated companies in America due to their high prices and servicepoor. Now they're getting the Federal Communication Commission and Congress to end net neutrality because if they get the power to slow down sites, they can force any site to pay millions to avoid being in the "slow lane." This would result in a tax on every region of the American economy. Each site would cost more, as everyone would have to pay a large cable. Which will lead to startups and independent voices dying out because they can't afford to pay. If we lose net neutrality, theInternet will never be the same. These companies crave the destruction of your right to a neutral Internet. If net neutrality is repealed, America will have an oligopoly. Net neutrality exists so that Internet service providers cannot legally “give preferential treatment to services from which they directly profit and block those that do not, while charging additional fees to Internet companies like Netflix. for faster access to consumers." There will be legal arguments back and forth, there will be petitions, but if that's the way the Federal Communication Commission wants things to go, things will stay. This is what could potentially happen to America. First, Americans already pay more than most countries for a slower Internet connection. US internet providers, unlike recent changes in the UK, are not required to truthfully advertise their internet speeds. The classic argument is that service packages will split up games, streaming and other things that we will only be charged for what we use. The “unlimited” plan will definitely become part of our future, $20 more for “unlimited” access. What most don't realize is that this is likely not a block but an intentional slowing of traffic to these services. In other words, giving people just a taste of what they're missing, or technically what they had. Americans like many amenities, but let's not forget who owns them. We may not be able to access Netflix at full speed with our “basic” plan, but we can obviously access Hulu. That's because Hulu is owned by corporate kingpins like Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Disney, and Time Warner. Charter, owners of Time Warner, also own Internet service providers Cox, Spectrum, CenturyLink, Road Runner and Frontier Communications. AT&T owns DirectTV and wants to buy Time Warner. These Internet Service Providers represent almost every single part of the American Internet. Netflix and Comcast may have a deal with set-top boxes, but that doesn't mean Comcast can't start charging extra for it with an internet they can fix in their favor. Second, an Internet that costs more to do less is simply less appealing to talent. By making it a hostile environment for those who do not please the Internet overlords, we are simply rejecting the future geniuses of tomorrow, when the United States already has restrictive immigration and a high cost of living. When Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon came along, they were bold startups that big companies didn't think would bother them until it was too late. Now they border on utilities, and while even giant companies can be destroyed, smaller ones could easily be annihilated immediately. It doesn't take long for Comcast to say that a product that competes with, or threatens them in some way, is "unsafe" to have on their Internet service provider. Any company that threatens an entertainment product owned by NBC, or AT&T's voice or data services, or begins draining talent from Time Warner's HBO is at.