Communications: Paper Network Neutrality

Submitted By pk11pthk
Words: 1004
Pages: 5

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. Net neutrality is the belief that ISPs and government should treat all data on the Internet equally, meaning that Internet pages won’t change upon who is viewing the content. Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School who is best known for coining the phrase “network neutrality” in his paper Network Neutrality. Tim Wu’s paper states that, “Network neutrality is best defined as a network design principle. The idea is that a maximally useful public information network aspires to treat all content, sites, and platforms equally. This allows the network to carry every form of information and support every kind of application” (2005). The government should enforce net neutrality opposed to not enforcing it. First, because if net neutrality is not enforced it has the potential to limit competition, and consumer choice giving small business no chance. Secondly, net neutrality needs to be enforced so that the Internet doesn’t discriminate. Lastly, by not enforcing net neutrality we are breaking the first amendment of abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. Net neutrality needs to be enforced by our government so people have the right to make choices that are right for them. According to Byron Anderson, author of Net Neutrality, What Should a Librarian Know; “The idea of prioritizing Internet content is unprecedented and has the potential to limit competition, and consumer choice, while favoring commercial services over nonprofit and noncommercial sectors” (2007). If there were to be no net neutrality our Google searches would just go to the highest bitter. Those ads we see on our Google searches are a result of paid search results. The average ad on Google is $0.40 a click; Google is calling this “cost-per-click”. Cost-per-click is running small businesses out of business. Net neutrality needs to be enforced so the little man can have a fight. You can argue that pay-per- clicks are good for the economy, and keeps many companies afloat, but what it really does is prevent new companies from starting, creating fewer jobs. With no net neutrality big companies will just pay search engines to pull up their pages first. With net neutrality, while larger businesses may be able to dominate search engines through extensive marketing and pay-per-click ad campaigns, your small business's access to the Internet is as free and open as a major corporation's would be. Net neutrality needs to be enforced so monopolies don’t start appearing for the big companies. If net neutrality were enforced, it would help the Internet to not discriminate. As of now telecommunication corporations have the right to discriminate. What gives them the right to discriminate? An author known as A. Gilroy, conveys that; “In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that broadband operators did not have to share their lines with competing Internet service providers (ISPs). The ruling stated that when consumers purchase a cable-modem service, they were buying only an “information” service, not a traditional two-way communication service” (2006). The Internet was designed to be an open medium. The original idea since the Internet’s beginning has been that ever Web site, every function and every service should be treated without discrimination, sadly that is not true today. Net neutrality should be enforced because Internet discrimination endangers our basic Internet freedoms. Our first amendment might be in threat if our government doesn’t enforce net neutrality. This era of technology and communication is very social media based. There is an uncountable amount of chat rooms and social media sites like Twitter, and Facebook where Americans exercise their first amendment daily. Big