Whenever I begin to say the term “saving the…” the first thing that comes to mind is “saving the planet,” or some other such environmentalist phrase (”save the whales,” &c.). But there is also a new phrase which is gaining popularity, “saving the internet.”
Net neutrality is a new hot topic on the internet. A “neutral internet” is one that “is free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, which does not restrict content, sites or platforms, and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams.” This is how the internet has been run. But there are several lobbyists who would like to change this, and restrict our internet usage.
Vint Cerf, co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, has stated, “The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. A lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive.”
Though, interestingly, the internet has thrived quite well, at least over the past eleven years I’ve been on it. Sure there was the “dot-com bubble burst” back around seven years ago, but even since then the internet has been doing quite well.
There are already some instances of anti-network-neutrality showing up, like in the case of Verizon, which blocks port 80, so you have to upgrade their services just to run the simplest of websites.
The internet should stay neutral, open, and “free.” We can’t live in a society where everything we touch is monitored or restricted. Net neutrality = freedom.
A great video of Sen. Ted Kennedy supporting net neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UlCXXZTTh8
Barack Obama stating that he supports net neutrality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd8qY6myrrE
A good website to check out:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
