Sunday, February 23, 2014

savetheinternet.com Review

Since the purpose of this blog is to raise awareness for Net Neutrality, I found a site online that is exclusively devoted to the cause to protect Net Neutrality: savetheinternet.com, a site created by freepress.net.

The purpose of savetheinternet.com is to raise awareness for why Net Neutrality is important for the economic, individual and political freedoms of individuals who use the Internet, especially in the wake of the DC Court of Appeals decision in the Verizon vs. the FCC case which sets the stage for the end of Net Neutrality. They also bring up that the telecommunication companies' attempts to take over the Internet and turn it into another outlet like Cable TV is not only an infringement on our First Amendment rights it is also an infringement on our basic unalienable human rights such as the right to assemble privately and freedom of expression.

The site also offers helpful information in regards to Internet Freedoms, an expose in regards to the NSA's use of the Internet to spy on not only American citizens but also people all over the world as it was revealed by Edward Snowden last year. It also showcases tools, events, and also has a section where you can take action and sign petitions to assist in the fight to preserve Net Neutrality and end the government and telecommunication companies' infringement of our rights in regards to the Internet.

So if you believe in Net Neutrality and want to help in the fight for a free and open Internet, I highly recommend this site and I urge you to check it out. Here is the link if you see the site: http://savetheinternet.com

Monday, February 17, 2014

Why Net Neutrality is Important

Hello, everyone and welcome to this blog that I have created to raise awareness for one of the most important topics facing people in the 21st Century: Net Neutrality.

What is net neutrality? Net neutrality is the principle that Internet Service Providers and the government should treat any information shared on the Internet equally without discrimination toward content creators and without charging or blocking people from viewing certain sites. The idea of Net Neutrality was actually in existence since the 1860's, long before the Internet was even an idea but the term itself was actually coined in the early 2000's. For years, the US government has been locked in an endless stream of legal battles over whether or not net neutrality should be made law.

The most recent case against Net Neutrality occurred on January 14, 2014 when the DC District Court ruled in favor of Verizon that the Federal Communications Commission has no right to enforce net neutrality laws on the grounds that service providers are not common carriers. That means that Verizon and other providers have the right to control what sites their customers see and the right to block consumers from viewing certain sites that they find offensive.

There are many reasons why Net Neutrality must be allowed to exist. For one thing, the Internet is successful primarily because it has opened the ways to how we communicate with each other; view original content created by regular people like you and me; and has opened up new jobs in a society where unemployment runs rampant. If the service providers control the Internet it will undermine the success of the Internet and most importantly if they are allowed to slow and block various sites, it is an infringement on the consumer's First Amendment rights (most notably Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, which also includes anything posted on the Internet.)

In conclusion, the preservation of Net Neutrality is important because the Internet is the key to the future prosperity of the world, in terms of economy, advancement of society, communication and stability.