On any given day in 2015, you would be hard-pressed to walk into a room at random in America without encountering a Smart Phone. There is hardly a library left that does not feature a quiet chorus of clicking keyboards from the laptops within. We are, in essence, permanently plugged in to the Great and Powerful Internet, and we rely on service providers (ISP’s) to provide us with this now-important resource. Lately, though, getting Internet is becoming less and less simple as folks debate the enforcement of Internet— or “net”— neutrality in the United States. There are a lot of inflated egos arguing back and forth on the subject, and the phrase “net neutrality” is becoming widely recognized amongst every day Internet users.
But how many of these people actually get what is going on, here? What is net neutrality, and why are household net surfers and economists alike getting bent out of shape over it? Well, net neutrality is big deal because it affects everyone who uses the Internet. Think about that for a second. It turns out that net neutrality is a concept that ensures consistent and unbiased web access to consumers, a slightly higher WIFI bill, and a level playing field for economic growth. For starters: net neutrality is not synonymous with a “free Internet.” A free Internet is an entire beast of its own, with many subjective definitions. An especially important fact to note in relation to this is that net neutrality has little to nothing to do with Internet privacy.
It does not affect who has access to browsing data and how they use it. Instead, it dictates that service providers must provide a resource (the Internet) at a certain rate regardless of how the consumer utilizes that resource. This system functions much the sam. .pense to consumers in unfair, and that people who want access to high-profile and/or bandwidth draining sites should pay more for those things. There are others who say that protection against Internet censorship is of paramount importance, or that giving small businesses a chance to thrive is worth a hike in individual cost.
Regardless of what the personal opinion is, though, the important thing is that a person’s opinion is based on the facts that net neutrality does mean higher individual prices for consumers, protection against selectively slowed Internet access, and a fair shot at the big leagues of Internet business. Remaining properly informed and having the facts allows individuals on a personal and corporate level to act according to what they would like to see happen in this pivotal point in American Internet history as net neutrality hangs in the balance.
