Net Neutrality - A free internet depends on you.
I haven’t written here in a long time. I know this. This, however, is super important and I need you to read it carefully because I’m going to spell it out in plain english.
What is going on here?
Cable companies and other Internet Providers (ISPs) are trying to limit your access to certain websites. They’re trying to hold your net access for ransom. What they’re trying to do is, in summary, create different levels of access for websites so that they can charge a premium to sites such as Facebook or Google. Don’t have the “Premium Package”? Too bad, you can’t access Facebook.
What is net neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the concept that all websites online should be treated with equal stature. Since these cable companies want to put smaller websites like my own on the maximum packages, it means you won’t be able to access a good portion of the internet without paying a hefty chunk of change.
Is this legal?
Yes. Unless the concept of Net Neutrality is protected either by FCC decree or an actual legislative bill (which got shot down by cable company lobbyists, by the way), cable companies can begin charging you money for different packages or internet access levels.
Don’t we have different speeds for different costs now?
Yes, but what we’re talking about here is any access at all to certain websites, not just the speeds you connect to them at. Even worse, they also want to charge sites like Google for the ability to reach their customers.
Why have I not heard of this?
There are big companies paying politicians a lot of big money to make sure this issue gets shelved, put on the back burner, or voted down. Most notably, the GOP (Republican party) believes its the rights of the cable companies to charge however they want for whatever they provide. This is simply wrong. People should have equal access to data and free speech to use it regardless of income.
I am of the belief that access to information is as much a human right as freedom of speech. I hope you’ll agree.
What can we do?
Glad you asked. The FCC is holding a meeting in December to decide the fate of their enforcement of Net Neutrality. So far, they’ve held out but the big cable companies are making a lot of lobbying progress. If the FCC folds, which they will if we dont speak up, then the internet as we know it will cease to exist. Instead, it will become impossible for small sites to gain any traction whatsoever. The websites you know now are the only websites you’ll ever hear about again. I simply cannot afford to pay a cable company for access to their customers, and I am 100% sure there are hundreds of thousands of websites that are in the same boat.
Michael Copps, the current FCC Commissioner, said the following about protecting Net Neutrality:
“…only if people understand — really understand — what’s at stake here, and only if you demand action. You. Action. Now. So I ask you to act like democracy depends on what you do. Because it does.”
So we need to let him know that we understand and WE DO CARE. Some paid off members of congress are trying to pitch Net Neutrality as a bad thing… that the government will be “taking over the internet omg!”. In reality, the FCC wants to maintain equality among websites. That is precisely why companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft all support Net Neutrality and people like “Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), ranking member of the telecom subcommittee” are against it.
Act Now
Do not wait. Please take a brief moment to say something, ANYTHING, in favor of Net Neutrality to Commissioner Michael Copps by emailing him right now.
If we fail to play this game, then we’ll all lose.
— Jimmy

