It's been along time since I've posted on this blog. This year is set to be my final year here before I retire the blog for good. But I'm afraid I have some bad news, and it doesn't have anything to do with the woes of the Nintendo Wii U.
No. What I am talking about is far, far more dire. For those of you who want to know what I'm talking about, it is Net Neutrality. Net Neutrality is a form of rules that sets all data as equal and keeps the internet open for everyone.
This is where the bad news comes in. Last week Tuesday, a Federal Appeals Court in D.C. did the unthinkable and struck down Net Neutrality as a law. And they had this to say:
"Given that the Commission has
chosen to classify broadband providers in a manner that exempts them
from treatment as common carriers, the Communications Act expressly
prohibits the Commission from nonetheless regulating them as such.
Because the Commission has failed to establish that the
anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules do not impose per se common
carrier obligations, we vacate those portions of the Open Internet
Order."
What does this mean? It means the fight ended badly, but we may still have a shot. The only thing to do is to convince the FCC into listing telecarriers like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Cox and Time Warner as common carriers. But should they fail at doing that, it would mean the end of a free internet. That would result in....
1) Slower than normal speeds
2) The Internet being tiered much like Cable TV.
On the latter, that means the Telecom companies can control what data you get depending on how much you pay them. If you're the kind of person who buys anything online, uses Facebook/Twitter/Google Plus/Tumblr, watch videos, view online news source and, Most importantly, play games online, get ready to pay more just to use those same services online.
Throughout the year, I will be checking up more on Net Neutrality. Folks, this is an issue at hand that puts the entire internet at stake. Should we fail, then it's been nice knowing you.
Works Cited: NPR
Monday, January 20, 2014
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