Enjoy a video of me talking about this below!
So today was a bad day at the FCC. As expected, the commission voted three to two to repeal the net neutrality rules over 80% of the American public supported to keep. What this means is your internet service provider can legally now throttle your internet speeds, make you pay more to access certain websites, and block certain websites they do not like. And this is something mostly everybody on the internet does not want. Even though the FCC voted to be stupid today, the fight is far from over. As of this writing 18 states including conservative states like Mississippi and Kentucky had joined together to file a lawsuit against the FCC and the removal of net neutrality rules.
Other organizations and tech giants like Google and Facebook are preparing their own lawsuits against the FCC and the removal of the net neutrality rules. And yes even Congress could pass a resolution reversing the FCC’s ruling on removal of net neutrality but will that happen, good luck with that. Even the FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai made this stupid and pointless parody video saying the internet will just be fine with the removal of net neutrality. As of this writing, this video has 125,000 dislikes on YouTube and when you make a video parodying the Harlem Shake and having a pizzagate conspiracy person in the video you make a lot of people angry at you. No doubt the FCC Commissioner is the most hated man in America right now.
So what will happen if all the lawsuits are unsuccessful, Congress is unsuccessful, or people just give up and live without net neutrality forever. For starters your ISP like Comcast or Verizon can block certain websites they do not like, think about that for second. Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, and other ISPs are mostly Democratic. They run websites that will mostly lean-to the left. They run cable networks that are mostly on the left. What do you think is the first websites they are going to block? That’s right, websites like BreitBart, InfoWars, or The Daily Caller and other kook right-wing websites. They have no incentive to allow these websites to be seen by their customers. So the people on the right who are cheering for the removal of net neutrality are going to get the last laugh when their favorite websites are blocked and no longer available.
Second, they’re going to force certain websites and streaming providers like Netflix to pay more money to the ISPs to have a faster speed. This means that costs will be passed on to consumers. We pay about $10 a month for Netflix now, but that will probably start going much higher because Netflix will have to shower a ton of money to the ISPs to make sure their connection is provided fast to their customers. This is going to happen for any streaming website or regular website. I don’t have the money to pay ISPs like Comcast to make sure Geek Alabama can be put on a fast lane. And there are many other websites that do not have the money to be put on a fast lane either. So this is going to stifle competition or new startups. People are not going to have a ton of money they need to make sure websites are on a fast line unless you’re like Netflix. And this is so anti-consumer.
And third, there have been a lot of memes floating around on the Internet about how cable companies could split up the Internet to be like cable TV packages. You pay a very low price to get started and to see certain groups of websites you have to pay more money. For example, all your social media websites will cost an extra $10 per month. All your video websites like YouTube will cost an extra $15 per month. If you want check your email they’ll be extra five dollars per month. You get the idea. The Internet will cost a lot more money to access and this will harm a lot of people. Because a lot of people don’t have a lot of extra money floating around to pay for things. Because of this, you will see your favorite content creators just die off completely. Your favorite YouTubers, gamers, and other social media personalities will have to shut everything down because they can’t pay and their fans can’t pay either. And that sucks.
So what are the next steps? First, we will have to see how these lawsuits progress in the judicial system. I would bet these lawsuits will eventually end up in the Supreme Court. I really do hope a judge will issue an injection forcing net neutrality to stay until all the lawsuits are resolved. But those chances of that happening are slim. Second, Congress could pass something to keep net neutrality. But those chances are slim as well because let’s be honest, has Congress done anything that would benefit the American people lately? Didn’t think so. The only time Congress does anything is when their lobbyist tell them to do something. Third, you could see new ISPs form. Google fiber could expand rapidly. Or cities could start their own Internet services. Once again that will be hard because ISPs and cable companies have these contracts in cities to have no competition. I thought having competition America was a good thing, I guess that’s changed.
If there is one thing the net neutrality removal did today, is it will get the message out to younger people that they need to vote. If you like to keep the Internet like it is now, and not see it divide up and be anti-competitive, vote in November 2018. Vote for the candidate that will pledge to keep net neutrality around. If you enjoy watching videos on the Internet, if you enjoy reading memes on the Internet, if you enjoy chatting with other people on the Internet, if you enjoy the Internet at all, you will want to go vote next November for the candidate that will want to keep net neutrality. It’s that simple.
When the FCC ignored the will of over 80% of the American public, and ignored the over 20 million comments the FCC got mostly to keep the net neutrality rules, you know something is wrong. The FCC only repealed net neutrality to please the likes of Verizon and Comcast and the other cable and ISP providers. That is anti-American, that is anti-consumer, and it’s the wrong move. Ajit Pai, I hope you enjoy being the worst person in the whole United States of America. I’m not surprised you’re getting death threats, and even your family and kids is getting threats too. You did something stupid, you ignored the will of the American people only to please the corporate overloads and took money as bribes to pass rules they want. That’s what’s really wrong with the American government, politicians only care about their lobbyists and corporate overloads, and have quit caring about the American people. I wonder how long until the American people are fed up, and we have a second American Revolution?
Categories: Geeks and Nerds Stuff
