Ahh Net Neutrality…Such a simple debate with such profound ramifications, and roots for that matter. For those of us who have been on the web since well, forever, this debate is no doubt something of great concern.
Hampster Dance
The internet, from “ate my balls” to dancing baby, hampster dances, to napster, numa numa, to kazaa, rick rolling to you tube, torrenting to dancing cats, and now apparently, cats that look like hitler, what a wild ride it has been…A eutopia, a place governed by no law, no death squads or riot police, a place where you could reinvent yourself every day, and say what you want. Are those days dwindling, is the internet about to be put under marshal law?
The topic of net neutrality goes far beyond a simple choice, fundamentally, its the same choice which is currently being argued upon in healthcare in the US, its a train of thought. Some would say, in the simplest terms, left vs right, liberal socialism vs conservative capitalism.
To understand this issue in its entirety, one must know how the ip/tcp protocol works, one must know how ISP’s currently control to web, one must know who those companies are, how they operate, and what their buisness models, stemming back from the days of the rotary phones are. It’s not a black and white issue. I could go on for weeks about this topic, but I don’t have time for that, so lets move on. You need to be informed about every aspect, got it?
This week, as oposed to last week, and the week before it, the debate is weather to let the ISPs control the internet, & potentially the content, or to jump in and have the government play watch dog, make sure the ISPS don’t to anything to make money, god forbid.
What do I think? Well, being the only conservative, capitalist in the room, does it matter? Many of you will stop reading this……now. But, let me tell you something about myself. I work hard, very hard, I like money, and keeping money. So, logically, to me at least, I am a firm believer that you have the right to make it and keep it if you can. I believe in an open market. Many argue that open markets are bad, and flawed. However, I feel, if the consumer feels they are getting mistreated by the companies on top of their market, it is their duty to create a company that does not mis-treat them. Many feel that the government should step in and stop x company from controlling a market, I cannot express at how wrong I feel this is. It’s not the governments job. Get off your lazy hedonist rear ends, for the sake of living!
I digress, while I am a firm believer in capitalism, I do love the internet, and feel it would be a darn shame if ISPs chose to kill it in its current format (although, they would have a hell of a hard time doing it.). I don’t think they should do that, however, they have the right too, they control the switches, the government should not tell them how to run their business. The ISPs (in America) have not really impeded on this much, except for that time comcast/road runner clamped my connection, remember web TV? They are not doing it, so It’s not the governments place to do anything about it.
An interesting article on net neutrality, from the Washington post, FCC Takes Sides In Net-Neutrality Debate it appears the FCC will afterall step in and tell ISPs they cannot discriminate what content goes over their networks. Do I like the overall outcome? Yes, I would curl up in a ball and die if all I had were a few websites to go to on the web, however, do I think the government had any right to do that? No.
I’ve got to get to class so I will cut this short, this post may seemed uninformed due to the time constraint, did not touch on a lot of key issues and focused down on the political side, mostly because I was just called a facist for being a capitalist. Will drove deeper into this later I hope, both on the technical and logic side.
=Keith