Net Neutrality is almost gone

Net neutrality, it’s not just for nerds.  It sounds like kind of a technical thing but most of us should care.

Why? Freedom of choice is the short answer. And by that I mean our choice. Not the choice forced on us by the company that provides our internet service.

The current rules support net neutrality. The current FCC would like to do away with the rules . This seems to be another case of the Trump administration and Republicans favor corporations over real people.  In short, they win and you lose.

This Internet Sevice Provider (ISP) is, of course, in business to make money.  It is probably more likely to have its own or its investors interests in mind than your freedom of choice or economic well-being.

Say you are tired of high cable fees and decide to cut out cable TV and get your entertainment from various providers (such as netflix or hulu). But your ISP is part of the company that provides cable TV or has some sort of interest cable or traditional TV. Without net neutrality , your ISP could decide to slow down or even block these other sites.

Say you like to shop on the internet. Without net neutrality, one or more large retailers could pay the ISP to give their sites priority while slowing down or even blocking competitors. Again you loose.

Do you like to read the news on the internet? Without net neutrality your ISP can limit your choices there.

Do you like the idea of competion? Yes, competition that increases your choices and probably saves you money too.  Republicans claim to be in favor of free enterprise but seem more than happy to stifle it here in favor of corporate profits. Without net neutrality, new competitors with new ideas could find it much harder to compete with existing coporations.

I have previous written about net neutrality and trying to explain this by analogy.

Do you like freedom of choice or think ISPs should limit it?

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