Anything Else Forum

Anything Else Forum

Offtopicland. Remember: no politics, religion, or hot-button social issues.

Add Your Voice to Fight the End of Net Neutrality

Jason Priestas's picture
May 9, 2017 at 5:14pm
198 Comments

As you may have seen in the news lately, the concept of “net neutrality” is under attack within the FCC, led by Chairman, and former Verizon attorney Ajit Pai.

At its core, net neutrality is the freedom to say, watch and make what you want online without interference from internet service providers. It's the core of the spirit of the internet and a large reason why we have this amazing thing we all love today.

Large telecoms want to kill this concept by doing things like offering speed tiers and various other tricks. Here's a good rundown on the issue.

The FCC needs to hear from people like you.

To give you a small example of why the end of net neutrality would be bad, consider when Eleven Warriors was just starting out. We didn't have any real budget but that didn't matter. What we had to say was just as important and delivered to you just as quickly as words from ESPN and other major players.

Had net neutrality not existed when we started in 2006, we very well may not have made it. Why would any Ohio State fan want to wait a couple of extra seconds for our pages to load when they could get the news faster from someone like ESPN, Rivals or Scout, who had the budget to pay for a fast tier of delivery?

There are a couple of ways you can make sure your voice is heard.

Mozilla has a public letter to the FCC you can sign and add your name to. You can also go directly to the FCC to file a comment. Look for the “Express” link for 17–108.

Here's a copy of the comment I submitted:

Dear FCC Chairman Ajit Pai:

Your proposal to weaken existing net neutrality rules is unacceptable. It would harm competition, curtail innovation, and threaten free speech online.

Without net neutrality, we may see a future in which big internet service providers can choose which services will load quickly, and which to throttle with slower speeds. This ultimately will be harmful to innovation, competition, and free speech.

Imagine a young Google, bootstrapped and fighting for a place in the market, but slowed to a point where it's not a feasible competitor because Verizon owned the dominant search engine of the time. 

Or, imagine a world in which Comcast degrades the speeds to a site that features complaints and negative reviews of their service.

This level playing field that exists now – and you are working to eliminate – is fundamental to the growth and spirit of the internet, one of man's greatest creations. Ending net neutrality can even be seen as a strike against free speech.

I urge you and the committee to reconsider the proposed changes to net neutrality.

Respectfully,
Jason Priestas

I know we have a no politics rule around here, but I believe this issue transcends that rule – and it also has wide support from both sides of the American political spectrum.

Thanks for hearing me out on something I am passionate about.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

View 198 Comments