Net Neutrality: What’s going on with Net Neutrality?

Hello everyone,  welcome to “What’s Toni Thinking” my own little corner of the world.  The random thought for today is Net Neutrality Rules how did we allow it to be taken away?

FCC ruling over Net Neutrality Rules

If you’re not familiar with Net Neutrality Rules it is a regulation that was set in place in 2015 during the Obama administration. It keeps the internet free and open to everyone by preventing Broadband service providers from dictating how we use the internet.

But,  recently the (FCC) Federal Communications Commission has ruled to reverse these rules.  This means that broadband providers have the right to discriminate according to pricing.

How this effects you

You see before these rules,  broadband providers such as AT&T,  Comcast, Verizon, and Others could block access to any internet source they pleased.  Which means that they could block something like Gmail and only make Yahoo Mail available to you.

Still not hitting home?

Ok,  let me try again,  Facebook could pay a broadband Service provider to block a competitor and gain a monopoly which would leave smaller social media platforms in the dirt.  Or,  a Broadband Service provider could ask Facebook to pay 40 million dollars for service and if they don’t agree they could block you and I from access to Facebook!

Ha!  That hit home didn’t it?  No Facebook?  I don’t think so.

But,  it could happen without Net Neutrality Rules!

So,  now that we all understand the importance of Net Neutrality Rules what’s going on with it.  Well,  as of December 14, 2017 the FCC has decided to reverse Net Neutrality Rules leaving us open to the whims of Broadband Service providers.

By the way,  did I mention that in the past Broadband providers have done sneaky things like slowing down the connection to certain networks in hopes that you get frustrated and go to another.  Of course a promotion of the intended other network seems to appear right at that time.

Sneaky huh?

Will it Stick?

So,  where does this leave us,  the consumer.  Well,  that leaves us to hope that Congress will decide to take on the FCC.  U.S Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has already stated that he will force a vote on a bill that will reinstate FCC Net Neutrality Rules.

But,  it looks like the two political parties are already disagreeing on exactly what changes will be made.  Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn has introduced her own version of a Net Neutrality Bill.  This bill would ban blocking and throttling.  But,  is that enough?  At this point we can only hope that the two parties will come together and do what’s right for all of us.

In the mean time,  the fastest way to make your voice heard is to tweet, call, or write to congress.  Also,  talk about it as much as possible to spread the word and get our voices heard.

Keeping Net Neutrality rules in place is important to keeping the internet as a free and open public utility.  If Big Companies take control and put a price on this public utility what’s next,  water?

Think about it and in the mean time Be blessed and do everything in your power to Make life Sweet!

Love,

Toni

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