April 30th 2010
English 109 position paper
Net Neutrality: An Endangered Idea
The internet is something I am sure each and every one of us uses on a regular basis or almost on a regular basis. Now think about how much you depend upon it. I would even have to assume that you use it for every thing from work , school , and entertainment. Now imagine if half or three quarters of what you do on the internet now requires you to pay a fee to your ISP (internet service provider) or even worse your ISP will not support it entirely. I don't know about you but that makes me cringe. Now what is it that would make this scenario a reality? The end of net neutrality. What exactly is net neutrality? According to Wikipedia the definition of Net neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions on content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed on the internet. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality) Basically what that is saying is that net neutrality is a concept that promotes the freedom that we currently enjoy when we go online to today.
Many people are for more control of the internet, especially of criminal acts or obscenities that the internet consist of. However net neutrality does not protect any illegal acts. The benefits of the eradication of net neutrality only come to a select group and that group is definitely not the consumer. That group is the hound dogs that control your access to the internet--your ISP(internet service provider).
How is it that ISP's would benefit from the end of net neutrality? They would benefit tremendously. They would be able to monitor the exact data that you request on the internet and if it doesn't promote a service they are running they could slow that service in order to increase the quality of service of something that would benefit them. For instance lets say that you get your internet from the local cable company.