Monday, November 17, 2008

Net neutrality - crucial to saving the internet as we know it

How would you like it if our Internet Service Providers (i.e. Time Warner, Verizon, At&T, etc) chose the content we could view and charged us extra for content they choose? Do you want to save the internet as we know it?  Then you need to be informed about the importance of Net Neutrality and insist that law makers continue to uphold it and formalize it in some way. Here is an excellent article by Dr. Paul Cesarini, from Bowling Green State University, outlining why net neutrality is crucial to saving the internet as we know it.  Here is my favorite exerpt from the article: 
If we are to save the Internet as we have come to know it, we must consider formalizing network neutrality in some way. We must insist that our elected officials take an overtly pro-regulatory stance. I admit that coming to that conclusion makes me uncomfortable. Even though mandating such neutrality has been advocated by Internet pioneers such as Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee, it still goes against every "less government interference" bone in my middle-aged body. Yet I know it is the right thing to do. I know that a packet is a packet; that all bits should be treated equally. I know that while my trust in government is generally quite low, and my trust in the FCC is at best conditional, my trust in Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner, and AT&T is significantly lower.

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