Pros And Cons Of Net Neutrality

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The news article number one cited in the reference page describes that the F.C.C. (Federal Communications Commission) voted and approved on February 26th, 2015 the policy known as net neutrality. Net neutrality aims to regulate and treat the Internet service like a public utility (i.e. telephone or electricity service). What this means among many things, is that Internet service providers (ISPs) will no longer be able to block or slow down the content that is being delivered; For instance, streaming movies from major websites would be delivered the same way as streaming movies from smaller ones. In addition, this policy will prevent content provider companies from paying ISPs for faster lanes on the Internet.

As expected, there are groups that support and oppose net neutrality. On one side, supporter companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook feel that a “free and open internet is the key to innovation” [2]. Thus, the approval vote by the F.C.C. for this new policy is seen as a “welcome step in order to create strong, enforceable net neutrality rules” [1]. In the other hand, opponents to this policy include companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast. They believe that net neutrality will only reduce investment in Internet infrastructure, raise prices, and affect the consumers.