Ok, so if you've been watching tech news at all in the last few days you're probably heard the phrase "Net Neutrality" thrown all around, and you've probably heard the name Thomas Wheeler (The Chairman of the FCC) tossed around with it, and likely a couple dozen words you wouldn't let your daughter hear. But here's the real question, what is Net Neutrality, and why should I care?
"What is it?"
Net Neutrality is basically the "Immortal Declaration" of data, that all data is created equal. Different software or services use different protocols, different ports, styles of transmission, etc. Basically Net Neutrality says that it doesn't matter either way, data is data and it's all treated the same way, none getting higher priority or faster speeds than the other.
"Why do I care?"
Because if Comcast is allowed to charge for one company to get "faster conduits to users" then the smaller companies out there that can't afford those kinds of things are going to be slower. Let's clarify this a little more with a very simple example. If you've got a line that can carry 1000 megabits per second, and two companies are equal over it, they each transfer at 500 megabits per second. Now company number one pays a premium, so they get 700 megabits per second instead. The other client didn't pay anything, but they're now being punished by getting lowered to 300 megabits, because that's all that's left.
"But why do I care about that?"
Well, you care because this means smaller companies will be facing bandwidth handicaps, which will cause service issues they can't hope to resolve. You care because the truest nature of the internet, the fact that it's unbiased, unmoderated, pure data is now gone and you're only getting passable service from the few that are paying the most, while the rest are lost in the crossroads. You care because the "small guy" trying to start his business with an amazing idea will fail because he's being forced out by big companies, not because the idea was bad.
"No, really, why do I care?"
Jeez, you're really a jerk... ok, you care because your own experience of the internet will be defined not by creativity, or new ideas or passion, it will be defined by who paid more to get it in front of you while the rest of the servers in the world time out.
Am I saying to protest, or get frantic, or start writing letters? No, I'm saying to know what's going on, be aware, and alert, and then make your own choice on what to do. Now you know the basics, go read the news and do your research, or don't, and leave knowing just a little more than you did yesterday.
Later!
I tend to sum it up as "you don't get access to the information you want - you get access to the information a corporation wants you to have."
ReplyDeleteTo give a real world example, lets say you have a Netflix subscription. You pay them and they pay Comcast (and Verizon and every other ISP to make sure you're covered) and you get the same access you get now, but it probably costs more because Netflix has to pay a dozen ISPs to get put in all the "fast lanes".
But, you really like Blip.tv and you can't get the stuff there anywhere else. So you pay them, but they don't have as much money as Netflix, so they only pay the premium to Verizon. So they're in the "slow lane" for Comcast. But you have Comcast, so your reception sucks, even though you're paying for a service. And it' not Blip.tv's fault, because Comcast (or whoever) is throttling them.
Now let's say that there's a new, even better service out there. You join up, and because no one else knows about it, it's AWESOME. But once your friends find out about it, the service slows down and becomes crap because it got popular enough to hit the bottle neck, but it's not making enough money yet to pay to get into the fast lane. You're gonna drop it, right? Because it's crap. And the service folds, even though it was awesome, because Comcast (and everyone else) said "you must have at least thiiiiis much money to be successful, even before you start."
Do you think Facebook, a free service, would have survived in a world like that when they didn't start with buckets of money? How about the original Google search engine? Or YouTube? Or Myspace? Or Instagram? Or Dropbox?