The FCC seems to have ticked off a whole lot of people (don’t worry, the hate is well deserved). See, Tom Wheeler, and his buddies created a proposal that would basically create a “fast lane” for services that are willing to pay extra fees to ISPs for the privilege.
What the hell does that mean, you ask? Great question! Basically, it means that companies like Netflix would have to pay companies like AT&T or Time Warner Cable extra money so that they can get enough bandwidth (speed/capacity) to send you glorious streaming video. If Netflix doesn’t pay, they won’t get enough room in the pipes to send you Star Trek in HD. Who wants to watch a pixelated Captain Picard?
Anyway, I found two entertaining-as-hell posts that demonstrate (sometimes graphically) just how ticked off people are about this. Check ’em out:
- The Weirdest, Angriest, and Most Heartfelt Comments on Net Neutrality – iO9
- The American people gave exactly 4,377 f***s for net neutrality – The Verge (this one is a tad sweary–fair warning)
Hopefully those give you a laugh and inspire you to join the rest of us in telling the FCC to quit trying to break the internet (proceeding 14-28, “Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet”).
Here are two reasons why the FCC’s plan is stupid
- The customers get screwed. ISPs charge us a lot of money (for relatively crappy service), and they aren’t upgrading their infrastructure to handle modern web traffic. In short, they’re charging us tons of cash for really small data pipes. It sucks already. If they can charge companies like Netflix money while denying other, smaller companies that can’t afford the additional fees the “fast lane,” then they don’t NEED to upgrade their pipes–the FCC would basically be saying, “Sure, keep charging your customers a ton of money, but while you’re at it, charge companies that rely on the internet for commerce even more money on the other end. That way, you can make mega-bundles of cash, and not fix a thing!” Meanwhile, we pay more for internet service, AND more for Netflix. Screw that.
- Giving the ISPs more power than they already have is like handing ISIS our entire nuclear arsenal. Seriously, we’re 31st in broadband speed worldwide, and we pay more than most of the world for that crappy service. Something is wrong there. On top of that, TWC and ComCast have the lowest customer rating scores in the country, and we’re already thinking about letting those two evil empires merge to form one giant Voltron of evil. Broadband is a constitutional right in some countries, for crying out loud! Let’s not take a step backward here, please.
Look, it may not seem that important to you, but I’m telling you this: if we hamper our ability, as a nation, to access fast and reliable internet (not just to watch movies), we’re seriously harming our ability to compete in the global economy. We could be screwing our future just so a couple of super-rich corporations can get super-richer. I say, “no, thank you.”
Go comment! You’ve got until September 15th to tell the FCC that they’re being stupid! Don’t waste the opportunity. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you watch John Oliver pwn the FCC and plea millions of internet trolls across the country to take up (virtual) arms to save us from the tyranny of ridiculous law.