This Changes Everything - The End of Net Neutrality

January 16, 2014 Written by Kalin

The Internet exploded this past Tuesday in reaction to a Federal Appeals Court decision to end Net Neutrality.  The consequences are sure to be nothing short of massive, and it will affect anyone who uses the Internet.

Why is this important?
The end of Net Neutrality means that internet service providers (ISP's) no longer will be required by law to give equal share to all Internet traffic, inbound and outbound.  On a very real level, this means that if Verizon, Comcast, or any other ISP decides they can make more money by giving priority bandwidth to certain sites, then they can do so and their subscribers have nothing they can do about it.  Conversely, web traffic they make no money on they can throttle back and restrict access or data speeds.  This changes everything, and it hands control of each person's Internet connection to the corporate power they connect through.

Below are a few good recent articles to bring you up to speed and explain why this is a total failure of our judges and lawmakers to protect its citizens, and how this will become yet one more unfair business practice that big business will soon start using to squeeze the public out of all they can.

Net Neutrality is Dead - Huffington Post
Net neutrality is dead. Bow to Comcast and Verizon, your overlords - LA Times
'Pay to play' on the Web?: Net neutrality explained - CNN
Web 3.0: What The Internet Could Look Like Without Net Neutrality - Huffington Post