Save the Internet: Support Net Neutrality

Most of the public has no idea that a political battle has been brewing in Washington over the idea of Net Neutrality:  the principle that your Internet Service Provider sells you unedited access to the internet.  No matter what site you visit, you get the same speed downloads from that site as you would any other.  However, in recent months, some of the big ISP’s (who also happen to be phone and cable companies) have announced plans to throttle your bandwidth when you use certain services (like voice-over-internet calls, or video downloads) from the web.  Needless to say, this exposes a major conflict of interest on the part of your ISP.

This video (from 2007), does an excellent job of explaining just what Net Neutrality is and what the current threats to our online freedoms are:

Up to this point, the Internet has been largely unregulated by the government.  This freedom has allowed for a lot of innovation and growth, much like the American Old West.  However, also like the Old West, it only takes a handful of rich and powerful people to take advantage of an unregulated market to oppress the little guys.  At some point, we need legislation to protect the freedoms we already enjoy online.  Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the inventors of the internet (one of the real inventors, unlike Al Gore) has an excellent post in favor of Net Neutrality.  For more information about this issue and how you can get involved, please visit savetheinternet.com.