Net Neutrality is very important!

You may recall that recently I got upset at the state of my cable service coupled with the very large monthly subscription rate I was paying. So I did something really radical deciding to get rid of it all and go Basic everything (while still being able to get PPV and Movies on Demand). Since giving up all of my higher tier subscriptions I have to say it took some getting used to but I am doing fine. I have a feeling if this were the Winter when I am outdoors the least it would probably be harder to adjust. But with fingers firmly crossed I am doing okay. lol

Now let's get back to a more serious note. So imagine that accessing the Internet would be the same experience as subscribing to cable TV. Just think about it for a minute. You'd pay a subscription fee and you would get a package of certain channels (er, sites) of material to look at but limited to only those that fell within your package. This works just like tiers on cable and satellite TV subscriptions, where the higher the tier the more channels you get. This means that the more you're willing to pay the more internet content you would be allowed access to. But this would also mean that some big store brand websites would start to dominate the internet while other smaller, more "niche" websites would no longer exist.

The reason smaller sites would no longer exist is that their traffic would be filtered towards those big store brand sites that would be picked up by an ISP (much like channels picked up by Cable providers) and away from them. In essence, a website like Truemors (one of my personal faves) would soon be no more because their traffic would plummet and the revenues they make off of ads would shrivel up. Small websites would be bankrupted unless, of course, they were picked up by an ISP and offered within a subscription package. If they are picked up then everything would be fine. But who's to say that an ISP like Time Warner for instance would be interested in picking up Truemors or eBaum's World or even Sherdog. Something's beginning to smell funny, isn't it? You know what that smell is? It's bullshit!

We already pay for internet access whether it's dial-up, satellite or broadband (which is expensive enough, damn it). And for that at times hefty premium we get access to the whole world wide web totally and completely unfiltered. This is the way the internet was intended and that is why it is as big of a community as it is and will be ever-growing. But large corporations along with your ISPs (yes, all the ones in the entire world) are calculating the money that is going out the window by having access to the internet be open. When the internet is open for all to use and to travel through without filtering it is said to be neutral. Corporations and ISPs do not want the internet to remain neutral and are in negotiations RIGHT NOW to have internet neutrality end by the year 2012. Is this another conspiracy theory? No, because some ISPs (perhaps even yours) are willing to admit it if you ask them. Besides, why wouldn't they be excited? The revenue that a non-neutral internet would generate for all major corporations would be huge. And that my friends is no bullshit!

Head on over to IPower and learn more about this initiative driven by the major corporations and commercial interests. Their goal is to end net neutrality by the year 2012. Sounds a bit far off but it's really just around the corner, folks. Also, watch the video below from a group of concerned activists at IPower who discuss what the average person can do to get the word out and stop this initiative.

SYS