Monday, November 17, 2014

Stuck In Neutral

You might think that a guy who spends at least a few minutes on Al Gore's Internet would have an opinion on "net neutrality." It sounds like something that I would like, given my predilection toward the middle and my fondness for Switzerland. But what would it mean to have a "neutral Internet?"
According to Wikipedia, which I believe was also invented by Al Gore, Net Neutrality " is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication." Doesn't that sound fair and correct? Why should any data be discriminated against? Just because I have all this bleeding liberal heart drivel to spout, I don't think my data deserves any sort of preferential treatment. I believe the information found on my little corner of cyberspace is every bit as important as that found elsewhere in this virtual realm. Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the trusted voices at Butterball.com, in which case all that talk of specialness applies. I would gladly pay a surcharge for the turkey wisdom that can be mined there.
Of course, that sets a pretty nasty precedent, doesn't it? Who am I to say that the folks at baconbaconsf.com wouldn't also deserve some sort of special dispensation? Or perhaps all purveyors of fried and melted foodstuffs? Without net neutrality, we might experience a filtering of our inbound data. That would be awful. Soon, you might be missing important Kardashian updates just because your ISP decided that they were less than worthy of your newly cleansed and sanitized feed. That family's antics have occasionally threatened to break the Internet, and isn't that what this game is all about? On a less-than-neutral net, would Alex From Target be allowed to thrive? Whether it's a Kardashian backside or John Oliver asking his viewers to focus their "indiscriminate rage" at the FCC, surfing the Internet is the sport of kings. No, wait. That's polo, not web browsing. I found that out by using my net neutral connection. And it didn't cost me a penny. Well, actually it probably costs me a fraction of that penny when I break it down over the number of searches and clicks I make in the course of a day. Totally worth it. If I had to start paying extra every time I wanted to find the nearest Dairy Queen, I guess you would understand why I'm all about net neutrality. 

1 comment:

  1. I guess the concern for me is that we might have to see MORE money-making Kardashian backsides and get LESS free-thought Entropical Paradise. I like Obama's response...it's a utility.

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