The big guns are out to get us. No, not the too big to fail banks or the health care industry oe even the greedy insurance companies. They already screwed us. But, now we have yet another industry in search of de-regulation , privatization, and the right to do what they want; our cable and internet carriers. In other words AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon among others are lobbying our legislators to privatize the internet and its content. In a nutshell ; limit what we can do and see on the internet without paying someone-like them.
Think about how much we presently have to pay to watch re-runs of Gilligans Island, fake news programming (Fox News) and supposed reality TV? Even if you throw in some decent programming and sports the basic package at Comcast is about $59.00. That is without any premium movie channels (where they basically give a few new movies a month and show them over and over again ad-nauseum. It can easily top $100. That is without internet service which for most companies runs $25. and up.
If the internet was privatized and had no regulations then “the big guns” could decide what we have access to. Instead of having total access to the World Wide Web, it could conceivably be only access to “the wonderful world of Comcast”. If you wanted to jump to my blog rants for instance, I would either be gone because I couldn’t pay their fee or you would have to pay a fee to see my blog and we all know that’s not going to happen. When these carriers talk about de-regulation, make no mistake that they mean a no-rules free-for-all for them. They would be able to block content, treat a legitimate site like spam and not allow it through or charge special fees to watch free TV on the internet.
Right now on the internet we experience what is called “net neutrality”. Which means those that own the “stuff” that connects all of us to the internet cannot restrict the sites and content we download. Under net neutrality the nations “big guns” cannot reserve preferential bandwidth for those sites and services that make them more money. Under net neutrality service providers cannot charge businesses for access to online customers. So, I can buy an antique on Ebay or a pair of shoes from Annie’s Shoe Hut, and big outfit or a small, it is my choice. Without net neutrality, they push Annies to the back burner or out the cyber door. Not enough money for the service providers.
Anyone who works or plays on the internet needs to know about this. A good resource is www.savemyinternet.com , where you get a FREE manual all about this. It is a communications guide released today by the non-profit research center Harmony Institute. It gives you a much better picture than I can of just what there is for us to lose if net neutrality falls by the wayside and ISP’s control the internet. Tell everyone you know about this or someday we’ll all say, how did this happen? Just like we did with the economy.
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