Net Neutrality: Yes Please!

Net neutrality is defined as “the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet” (Google). However, big business wants to take over the Internet, causing a battle between public and private interests.

Big businesses are hoping to control what we can and can not access via the Internet. Each Internet provider could create their own distinct “menu”, which provides consumers with a few select options, while restricting their access to others. For example, Bell users may have the option of using Google.com, while anyone subscribing to Rogers would have to use an alternate (and possibly inferior) search engine.

Network Neutrality is incredibly important because without it, “startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top spot on the Web” (Save the Internet). In essence, the Internet would come to be entirely based on money. The more money you have, the more options you would get-not unlike cable television. Through the implementation of this method, Internet providers would cause the costs of posting audio and video to skyrocket, “silencing bloggers and amplifying the big media companies” (Save the Internet)

However, I don’t think I would be incorrect in stating that the majority of the general public is in favour of a free Internet. Free Internet creates equality among consumers, and in a world that is so bound to the World Wide Web, this in incredibly important. We use the Internet for banking, sending family photos, planning vacations, and contacting friends. Do we really want our ability to do such things to be put at risk because of big business?
The public simply wants freedom and the absence of Internet-based discrimination, while Internet providers desire what most companies do: money and control.

I am on the side of Internet inventor Tim Berners-Lee who was quoted as saying: “The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net" (Google).

"Frequently Asked Questions." Save the Internet. 23 Nov 2008 < http://www.savetheinternet.com/=faq#giant >.

"A Guide to Net Neutrality for Google Users ." Google. 23 Nov 2008 <http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html >.