Net Neutrality

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If you follow the tech news, you’ve heard of this buzz word that has a lot of people up in arms. Basically, Net Neutrality is a concept that anybody should be allowed to put their content on the Internet (provided it’s legal, of course), and anybody should have the right to access that content. This is a policy that most in the world take for granted today, but there have been a lot of people in the U.S. going nuts, for fear that we are going to lose this on our public networks. The reason? There is a telecommunications bill going through congress, and one of the provisions is to allow ISPs to charge a higher price for premium content, like IPTV. Because of that provision, a lot of people fear this will create a slippery slope; that ISPs will abuse this new law and charge exorbitant amounts for content they don’t like, or block it altogether.Well, I too was becoming afraid, so I wrote my congressmen, asking them to support any bill that would preserve net neutrality. I got responses from all of them, but I want to hi-light what Senator Larry Craig said. He informed me that the FCC already has a policy in place to preserve Net Neutrality. Here’s a quote from his letter: “The FCC has adopted a policy statement…outlining four principles to be incorporated into its ongoing policy making activities that encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open, interconnected nature of public Internet”. I won’t bore you with the four principles, but I found this interesting considering all of the wild discussions online lately, wherein a lot of people swear up and down that the Internet, as we know it today, is soon to end. I know I feel a lot better after getting this letter from Mr. Craig.