Lately net neutrality has been a country wide debate. From re-tweeting posts attempting to raise awareness to men in suits giving spiels on your local news channel of how abolishing net-neutrality is good for us. Due to the free reign broadband providers will have it will come to no surprise when the cost to be apart of the “online community” is soon at an all time high. The negative effects wouldn’t stop there. On a small scale, it could impact the number of places that allow free wifi. On a larger scale, due to the inevitable price surges less people will have access to the internet. Which in turn means less people will be aware of what’s going on in the world. Ignorance is not to be tolerated especially in this day of age. In a poll ran in class during a clicker question, Dr.Pursel noticed majority of the class viewed the news on social media. According to an article posted by the Pew Research Center, the Journalism and Media sector, “The portion of Americans who get their news on a mobile device has gone up from 54% in 2013 to 72% today.” Well obviously as the internet and the way we interact with it advances so will the number of its consumers, but with the amount of people that rely on the internet to provide them with sound news increasing as it has over the years, is this truly the best time? When twitter has become a platform to voice the voiceless, is this the time to give internet providers the ability to potentially impact this?
http://www.businessinsider.com/fcc-net-neutrality-repeal-will-lead-to-higher-prices-fewer-choices-2017-12
Not only would the removal of net neutrality increase the already huge digital divide, it would also change the way we use and experience the internet which has help paved the way for countless innovations. Without net neutrality, much of the control over the use of internet would be in the hands of big corporate ISPs. They would be able to control how much we can access, the traffic, and the speed of our internet connection. The loss of net neutrality can cause fewer places that offer free wifi. It could also further impact the digital divide in developing countries. With net neutrality gone, only the ones who can afford to be connected to an ISP would have access to the internet.
https://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-what-you-need-know-now
While I believe that net neutrality should remain in place, Ajit Pai (the head of the FCC) said something that caught my attention. He stated that the removal of net neutrality would lower internet prices because of the competition capitalism offers. More people would be able to afford internet as a result of the competition that net neutrality blocks. Whether this is true or not cannot really be proven but I do not think it is wise to only view this debate from one side. Again I think net neutrality is still a good thing, but the removal of net neutrality might not be the end of the internet as many people are claiming it will be.