An update on Net Neutrality

Back in December, I put up a blog post on the reasons why Net Neutrality is Vital for the internet and since then while the Federal government has struck down Net neutrality. It would appear, however, that the states are fighting back. Since the FCC ruling about Net Neutrality, not only have the American public at large staged a number of protests, but the governors are throwing their hats in the ring. Since the FCC’s ruling on Net neutrality, the Governors of quite a few states have started enacting laws in their own state which make it so that Internet Service Providers will not be allowed to operate in their states unless they operate under rules of Net neutrality.

On one level I’m thrilled by this news. This means that the states that are enacting these laws are ensuring net neutrality, despite what the FCC is trying to do. On another level I was, to be perfectly honest, a little concerned by this. Not because I don’t want the US to have net neutrality (just the opposite in fact) but I’m concerned about praising this as it was more or less the same method used by the NRA when federal gun laws started coming out. When The US federal Government started enacting Gun Laws the NRA went to the state legislatures and started lobbying them to enact laws that would render the Federal laws useless. This is now what is happening with Net Neutrality.

Because of this, I was reticent to praise this action, but I was having breakfast with my wife (who is awesome and way smarter than I am) who made a couple of interesting points. When I mentioned that I wanted to do this article, and I said I didn’t want to look like a wingnut lefty or a hypocrite for praising an action when It works for me and denouncing it when it doesn’t. She said this;

“They are completely different. The internet is a necessity, guns aren’t. Anyone can access the internet now, and it’s where the majority of people get their information. Ideas can be exchanged, constructively or not but you get to see multiple points of view. Making it less accessible is a way of controlling the conversation. Instead of many voices forcing you to think about your position, you have one voice telling you what to do, what’s wrong and who’s to blame. Making it easier to get guns just makes it easier to shoot things.”

She’s beautiful and brilliant, what can I say.

I think that what the states are doing is a great step to getting back to having Net neutrality. Having the internet be accessible to all is critical for allowing people to educate themselves on what’s going on in the world. When you try and censor people and try and cut them off from information it is violating the most basic principle of both the US Society and also my own, freedom. Freedom from leaders who wish to silence your opinion because it is not the same as theirs. Freedom to say what you want, to go where you want, and to be who you want to be.

in the past 30 years, the internet has revolutionized how we live, how we work, how we exist. Because of the internet, we are able to conduct business and work together, we are able to experience different parts of the world that we may not have been able to without the internet. Heck, My in-laws are able to see my kids grow up through the pictures that my wife puts on Facebook. Most of the books that I read nowadays I get through the Kindle app which needs the Web to get to, and most of those books I get recommended to me through blog articles of other people who have read books that have changed their lives. The internet accomplishes all of this, not because it’s easily available to the people who can afford it, it accomplishes it because it’s available to everyone. The striking down of net neutrality widens the gaps between the haves and the have-nots.

It is my firm hope that the FCC will change it’s ruling on Net Neutrality. Not for me, I’m Canadian and we have it, but for the people who are like me living in the US who have a voice and need to speak their piece. Freedom of speech is a double-edged sword. While you have the ability to say what you want, the people who speak to you also have that ability. It is our responsibility to make sure that we express our opinion, listen to those who disagree with us and talk about it.

What do you think about Net Neutrality? 

Let me know in the comments section below. If you like this blog post and want to see more, you can follow me on Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook @jasonlovefiles) or Subscribe to my blog to get new content delivered directly to your mailbox.