They can take our lives, but they can never have our NET NEUTRALITY!!!!!!
Wow, before this week’s topic, I was not aware of Net Neutrality at all. After the readings and videos, I’m honestly scared that we will soon lose all of the great freedoms we have on the internet. In regard to increased prices for higher bandwidth usage, I think it is completely ridiculous. Many of the services that require a great deal of bandwidth might possibly shut down, especially if they are currently a free service.
However, I can’t help but think that there is hope for this situation. I’d like to think that there are some government officials out there who are smart enough to realize the importance of Net Neutrality. I hope they will see to it that the internet remains a place of many options. While most of us have been raised with the values of capitalism, I think there is a line that must be drawn. While the huge corporations such as AT&T argue that they have provided a service and should be rewarded for it, I believe that going beyond the realm of an access charge, and instead have a charge for usage as well is ridiculous. It’s almost as if they are taking credit for and hoping to make profit from an intangible object which they have no ownership of.
I am very happy that I have seen the Humanity Lobotomy video; as well as having read the article, “How AT&T chewed up, and spat out Net Neutrality.� Now I feel that I can take part in making people aware of the issue at hand, and I plan to do so. I agree with Dan Gilmore of the San Jose Mercury in saying, “It's a threat not just to Citizens Media (sic) but to democracy itself.�
Comments
Before this week, I too, had no idea what Net Neutrality was. I cannot think of a reason why corporations would need to charge more for higher bandwidth. They make millions each year and cannot part with some bacndwidth? From watching the videos it looks like some government officials have caught on and have been fighting for the public's rights on the Internet. My attitude has now changed from "don't care" to "mad as H*ell" I don't feel like corporations should hurt the public's right to free speech on the Internet. I want to see a person go against a corporation say thing that they are violating free speech and win. I think that would save net neutrality.
Posted by: Mark Mahan | May 6, 2007 03:03 PM
Exactly. How can big corporations take control of the entire internet when all they're responsible for is the physical groundwork that brings it to our homes? I'm pretty sure AT&T isn't responsible for creating stuff like Youtube, this blog, or 99% of the stuff on the internet.
Posted by: Carl Cassel | May 6, 2007 04:37 PM