Net Neutrality
Network Neutrality refers to the ideal that all internet content should not be discriminated against by corporate entities that provide internet access. An example of this is an extra charge or suspension of your internet because you have downloaded too much data.
This heated debate of Network Neutrality is fought by the big, buff, and filthy rich bullies versus the small, meek, average joe. We believe that the internet is free - we can access whatever we like, whenever we like, and best of all, for free (excluding Internet provider fees, that is)! It is never owned by a single person, which makes our internet content so diverse and teeming with creative life. However, being the greedy pigs they are, cable and internet providers such as Bell and Rogers want to lock down on the successful internet and reap in the dollar signs that come with ownership.
The large corporations (aka the big mean bullies on my blog) of ISPs want to capitalize even more on the internet than just providing you with the wires that hook you up. They want to “manage” internet material such as music and movies. “The biggest cable and telephone companies want to decide which Web sites, services and applications go fast or slow. Content providers who wont (or can’t pay) a toll will see their sites slowed to a crawl” (CDM). How are small businesses going to succeed and grow under the weight of all these corporate giants? What about students that don’t have the money and whose family cannot afford the internet anymore because of these extra fees?
Well... I guess I’ll probably have to add Blogger to my already unaffordable expenses of university tuition if that happens... I’ll also probably be up to the sky in debt before I even pass third year university... =(
God forbid that they decide to charge fees for Facebook access.
They’ll slow down Peer-to-Peer (P2P) sharing of files and information because companies like Bell won’t be able to profit from such services. If they get this kind of managing power, many other companies, such as film and music studios will pay these controlling internet providers big money to block or hand over users sharing their copyrighted content without paying the costly fee.
Music and film in particular greatly shape our culture to what it presently is. Without these creative works of entertainment, I think you and I would be either very bored or turned into clones from the lack of variation of constant science and math.
As the graphic novelist Judd Winick says in Lawrence Lessig’s book, Free Culture,
“‘That’s how [the artists] learn to draw—by going into comic books and not tracing them, but looking at them and copying them’ and building from them.”
A famous example of culture that benefits from network neutrality is Disney. As quoted again from Free Culture, “Disney (or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity from the culture around him, mixed that creativity with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into the soul of his culture. Rip, mix, and burn.
This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should remember and celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no creativity except this kind.”
How are we going to continue creating culture when we are confined by corporations that just want money? Money can only fuel so much.
The big companies claim that such regulations and material management will not cripple the free flow of internet content and services. They believe that it would actually be beneficial. It will make the internet a faster, higher quality service. To get quality, you must cough up the money.
“In 2008, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that out of 30 countries, Canada was the 28th as most expensive for average-use cell phone packages [and internet services]” (Federal Liberal).
Now, we all know that Canada is a well developed country, ranking as one the best countries in the world for several things such as the UN’s list of “Safest Country to Live In.” You would think that with all our developed infrastructure of a first-world country, we would have one of the cheapest technological and digital services.
Do these companies really have a right to discriminate against certain internet activities, services or material?
Black people, white people, yellow people, or however you prefer to describe us, are all the same - we are all human. We all have eyes, mouth, arms, legs, etc. The only differences that make us different from one another are our size, personalities, how we dress, how we talk, what we like or dislike, and where we come from.
Do we discriminate other people? No. (Well... most of us, anyway.) Discrimination has been legally abolished for many years now, and very much accepted and practiced in places like Canada.
What makes data any different? They are still packets of information that are made, packaged and sent over the Their content and function may be different, but they are all still a form of data.
Oh woe, why must the world be so greedy? I say (again) that we should rehumanize and be less greedy. It is the answer we need! Well... at least I hope it's the answer.
Works Cited
CDM - Campaign for Democratic Media. “Saving Our Net.” Network Neutrality. 2009. <http://democraticmedia.ca/sites/democraticmedia.ca/files/Net Neutrality flyer - June.pdf>. Nov. 2 2009.
Federal Liberal Agency of Canada. “Liberals push for better competition and service for cell phone and internet use.” Liberal. 30 October 2009. <www.liberal.ca/en/newsroom/media-releases/16801_liberals-push-for-better-competition-and-service-for-cell-phone-and-internet-use>. 2 November 2009.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. “Mobile phone calls lowest in Finland, Netherlands and Sweden, says OECD report.” OECD. 8 October 2009. <www.oecd.org.document/20/0.3343.en_2649_201185_43471316_1_1_1_1.00html>. 2 November 2009.
Lessig, Lawrence. “Piracy.” Free Culture. The Penguin Press HC. 25 March 2004. page 26-7.
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