The Pros And Cons Of Net Neutrality

Sorry, to view the rest of the paper you need to call your internet provider and upgrade to the “Essay Package ™”. Ok, you do not actually need too, but this might become a common sighting on an internet without net neutrality. The net neutrality debate has sparked up back up ever since FCC chairman Ajit Pai was appointed by Donald Trump. Ajit has been very vocal about his stance on the matter. Pai thinks that the current rules should be shut down, he “believes that less regulation in this area is more beneficial to market growth.” (Nusca) However, the way the internet is currently set up in the United States, which is with net neutrality, should stay how it is because of the gloomy possibilities of ISP (internet service provider) monopolies,

Some people believe the net neutrality debate is about ISPs vs web companies. Aaron Blander from the Daily Wire, in his article 7 Reasons net neutrality is Idiotic, argues that the only reason web giants, like google and facebook support net neutrality is because it targets their competition, who would be the ISPs. It is true that net neutrality is more helpful to internet companies than ISPs, but net neutrality is also in favor of the consumers. Should laws be changed just to help ISPs, while the majority of the public is degraded? . Other people against net neutrality explain that the internet, in its current state, is not a free market and believes taking away the open internet rules would be a good idea. “Internet bandwidth is, at least currently, a finite resource and has to be allocated somehow. We can let politicians decide, or we can let you and me decide by leaving it up to the free market. If we choose politicians, we will see the Internet become another mismanaged public monopoly…. If we leave it up to the free market we will, in time, receive more of what we want at a lower price.” (Steimle). The current system may not be considered “open” because the FCC regulates bandwidth, and the current rules make all companies treat all data the same. FIrst of all, the current system is not having the government control of the internet, they are regulating it, making sure that

When the FCC voted on December 14th 2017 in favor of repealing net neutrality many states went on the offence. “Attorneys general from Washington, Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Oregon, Vermont, the District of Columbia, and Massachusetts have also announced plans to challenge the FCC’s net neutrality repeal.” (Glaser) This is one of the most likely ways that the repeal is slowed down or shutdown because some of these cases might turn into civil right disputes, that are sent to the supreme court. One way that the public might be able to help is through the 2018 midterms. “Democrats’ advantage in the new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll stands at 10 percentage points, 44 percent to 34 percent...” (Shepard) Even though net neutrality is not a democratic vs republican dispute because 81% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans are in favor of net neutrality (Mozilla), democratic representatives are more likely to vote in favor of net neutrality. Because net neutrality is a very important matter to Americans, the only way to support it is by voting for representatives that have said they are in favor of it. The consumers truly can not support net neutrality directly because of the representative democracy in the United States, but there are still ways to stall the