“But that’s exactly the point”, Quinn wrote. At a recent Code Conference, he said that net neutrality was still important to Netflix as a principle, but it’s “not narrowly important to us because we’re big enough to get the deals we want”. We agree that no company should be allowed to block content or throttle the download speeds of content in a discriminatory manner. The telecom heavyweights also voiced their support for the idea of an open internet, including Dallas-based AT&T.
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“Unfortunately, in 2015, then-FCC Chairman [Tom] Wheeler abandoned this carefully crafted framework and instead chose to subject broadband service to an 80-year-old law created to set rates in the rotary-dial-telephone era”, company executive Bob Quinn wrote on the company’s blog.
But now, the FCC has announced they’re considering less enforcement of Title II, which could give the big, powerful internet companies more power.
The deadline for open comments to the FCC is July 17. Some companies, including Netflix and GoDaddy, used space on their homepages to flag the issue, while others, like Facebook and Google, buried their messages in blog posts.
At question is whether or not the internet should be a place of openness, where information and videos are available with a simple click, or restricted.
A US -wide opinion poll released earlier this week revealed strong support for Net Neutrality, spanning the political spectrum.
Mr Pai wants the commission to repeal the rules that reclassified internet service providers as if they were utilities, saying the open internet rules adopted under former President Barack Obama harm jobs and investment.
Internet users and businesses across the Green Mountain State rely on full, unencumbered access to the internet. Twitter’s pinned, top trending hashtag is current #NetNeutrality, also to support the protest.
Luckily the FCC requires a public comment period where people can make their opinions known. Participants spread awareness by displaying a symbolic loading symbol on their home pages along with a call to action for users to submit comments to the FCC, similar to Wednesday’s initiative.
According to the Internet Association, “Net neutrality is in real jeopardy, and we’re banding together in support of strong net neutrality rules…”
That had risen to 6.7 million Wednesday afternoon. “Net Neutrality is foundational to competitive, free enterprise, entrepreneurial market entry – and reaching global customers”. Urban Dictionary’s word of the day is “net neutrality”, originally defined by Cam!111oneoneone! in 2006 (yesterday’s word was “Side Daddy”).
That’s not good new for users, obviously, but it means mega-giant ISPs could stand to make a lot of money at the expense of keeping access to the internet unrestricted.
Advocacy groups argue that Americans will be worse off if the costs are passed down as new fees, and if providers get to pick online “winners and losers” in determining which content should receive favored treatment. Comcast conveniently forgets that 10.6 million homes in the U.S.do not now have access to 25 Mbps internet, the legal definition of broadband, while 46 million do not have access to more than one provider at this speed.
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“We need to be aware that if the broadband providers are going to be given a monopoly, that they have to at least not charge differently and not throttle back the speed of competing products”, Dr. Leidig said.
