The Pros And Cons Of Net Neutrality

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It is the year 2018, Apple has just created an iPhone X, YouTube is having a meltdown, and Google is one of the most popular websites to ask any questions. How could people know this? Why does this matter? For most people living in 2018, this is what they care about. The Millennials and Generation Z kids care about the internet and what happens to it more than they care about newspapers, radio, and television. Which is why it is mainly these people who are worried about the FCC dismantling the net neutrality rules. Net neutrality, for those people who do not know what the phrase means, were rules put in place during Obama’s presidential run in 2016. These rules stopped internet broadband companies from charging more for certain services, and instead let all the content on the web be treated equally, whether it was mail, video streaming, or any kind of data. By repealing these rules, the FCC is …show more content…

In simpler terms, this means that the internet service providers could potentially allow the businesses who pay more to have their websites and internet data be at faster speeds than other businesses and websites. Some will argue against this, but without net neutrality forcing the internet providers to have equal internet for anyone and everyone on both sides of the equation, it would not be too hard for these businesses to change a few minor things. In fact, in a court case, Verizon v FCC that happened in 2013, the attorney for Verizon said that the company may be interested in paid prioritization (“Will the FCC’s,” 2018). Now while this did happen in 2013, there is still the fact that a representative of Verizon stated they would not be opposed to paid prioritization. With the rules barring that line of thought gone though, who is to say that Verizon will not jump on the change to be able to allow some changes to make paid prioritization a