My Submission to the FCC on Net Neutrality
Text Entry:
Thank you for accepting my opinion. I would like to urge the FCC to reclassify all access to the internet as a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, and to regulate Internet Service Providers (ISPs) accordingly. While the center of the debate is about delivering content to users without speed influence from ISPs, most of the focus has been on entertainment. A more pressing concern for me is based on the original creation of the internet.
Access to information, and the ability of the internet to bring it to me without bias, is what’s at stake. We’ve become a society, especially younger Americans, that aren’t scared to try to learn new things, just by reading a few articles and watching a few YouTube videos. Our willingness to learn, coupled with unbiased access to sites that deliver education, is something we should have fair access to. Regardless whether that information be from someone’s personal blog, a non-profit, a start-up, or a major conglomerate. Access to that information shouldn’t be allowed to be influenced in any way by a highest bidder or paying a premium for faster distribution (see Comcast/Netflix speed changes 2013 vs 2014 after paying their fee). Even more, in many cases, the highest bidder will likely spend money on winning distribution priority and less on providing valuable content.
As a customer of ISPs, I pay for access to THE internet (at higher costs and slower speeds here in the U.S. compared to so many other countries [Where’s all that innovation and infrastructure ISPs keep talking about building?]), not for my ISPs version of it.
I understand this is a complex issue around one of the biggest economic forces our planet has seen, but we need to leave the economics to the businesses on the street, where true competition resides, and not allow the street to littered with road-blocks and fast lanes to junkyards.
Thank you for your time.
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If YOU want to leave a note for the FCC on Net Neutrality (even if it’s different than mine), do so by going to http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/display?z=kgxq.