Introduction As Internet usage and availability continues to boom, arguments about Internet regulation and freedom of speech begin to play a major role. Specifically, network neutrality and FCC regulation has sparked major debate in the Internet community. The debate includes the average Internet user, the large Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the U.S. government. Each side lobbies for its own interest, so we focus on explaining the issue at hand and presenting arguments from each side. Like most issues, there is no black or white answer. With knowledge of all aspects, though, you can make a better informed decision as to what you support or believe in. Network Neutrality and FCC Policies The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), …show more content…
According to freepress, the open Internet will be destroyed unless network neutrality continues. Without it, telecom companies can pick winners and losers online or discriminate against online content and applications (“Net Neutrality”). An example of these discriminations is how Comcast has been limiting the bandwidth of Netflix unless Netflix agrees to pay a large amount of money. Comcast likely wants to limit Netflix’s bandwidth because it is a competitor with Comcast’s television service. When thinking about it, why should Netflix have to pay to get more bandwidth when the customer is already paying the ISP for this bandwidth to bring them Netflix? When an ISP limits a company’s bandwidth, it hurts the customer because they are paying for that service already. Some of you may have seen on Netflix when it is taking a while to load it will give a message that is something along the lines of “sorry for the slow loading speeds, you can thank your ISP”. This is one reason why network neutrality is very important. ISPs shouldn’t be able to limit something that customers are already paying for. Network neutrality stops ISPs from being able to devise schemes to charge users more for access and services, making it harder for us to communicate online (“Net Neutrality”). If network neutrality did not exist, ISPs could also block content that they don’t like. They would be able to prioritize Web traffic and have the fastest speeds go to the highest bidders (“Net Neutrality”). Neutrality is important because it gives everyone an equal playing field. Everyone has the same loading speeds and so people can distinguish which websites they like better based on their actual content and not just because one loads better than another. The Internet should remain open, affordable and fast. It is important to the world’s economic