you've probably heard a great deal about net neutrality and its importance and
the consequences it'll have for your online experience but what if you don't know exactly what it is I mean is it
some vague idea of the internet being exactly the same for everyone we all go
to the same web pages does it mean that we're trying to turn cyberspace into
Switzerland no in its simplest terms net
neutrality means that all traffic on the Internet is given equal priority data
travels along a series of tubes in little bundles called packets that's the
internet when you download something the data is broken up into packets the
packets take the quickest routes they can find over the internet then they're
reassembled when they reach your computer into a coherent video or C meme
or whatever else the way the internet has traditionally been set up is that
all packets are treated equally by the servers and other equipment that handle
them regardless of who's sending them who's receiving them and what they
contain much like cars on a highway the speed limit isn't affected by who's
driving or what's in the car so the net neutrality debate has been over whether
isps or internet service providers should be able to start giving certain
kinds of content priority over others for example Comcast and Netflix had a
dispute over whether Netflix should pay Comcast for using so much of their
bandwidth when Netflix initially refused on the grounds that Comcast customers
were in their eyes already paying for the bandwidth Comcast throttled the
speed at which Netflix could access Comcast's Network and their users that
is to say the customers of both Comcast and Netflix started receiving lower
quality videos and it was only after Netflix ponied up cash that Comcast
restored full speed access well hold on a second lineus isn't it fair that
Netflix pay Comcast something if their service uses up so much of the available
bandwidth I mean doesn't someone have to pay for all the extra burden on the ISP
well that certainly is one of the main arguments that people who are against
strict net neutrality often use but there are quite a few arguments in the
other direction that have really caused this debate to well rage on and on one
of the most important arguments in favor of net neutrality is that isps could
abuse their ability to charge content providers I mean suppose Comcast wants
to make it super easy to stream programming from NBC a network that it
owns but then slows competing video
services to a crawl unless they pay a hefty fee in the United States the
Internet isn't regulated as a public utility the same way that say phone and
power companies are which means that Comcast could be free to do this in the
absence of net neutrality regulations I mean could such a world lead to a cyber
divide between the halves and the Have Nots I mean if the owner of some online
startup wants users to be able to load her website quickly will she have enough
in her Kickstarter funded coffers to pay all the major isps I mean would the isps
abuse their power I'm not much for random fearmongering but I think that
given their track record there might be something to the fears of pret
neutrality Advocates about potential High tolls that isps could charge to
access their tubes that could discourage web services that can't afford to pay
extra potentially stifling Innovation
but this video won't go too much further into that and is not intended to cover
this topic thoroughly and in depth it's more of a prompt for you to do some
further reading then if you feel so inclined send a letter to your elected
representative to let them know how you feel because no matter where you sit on
the network neutrality debate there's little doubt that it'll have profound
consequences for everyone who uses the internet whether your thing is trolling
be reading poorly written or well-written fanfiction or watching
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