Net Neutrality is under attack by big phone and cable companies who want the power to pick and choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet because they supply the means of accessing the internet
Net Neutrality holds that companies providing Internet service should treat all sources of data equally. It has been at the centre of debate as to whether companies can give preferential treatment to content providers who pay for faster transmission, or to their own content. This will therefore create an internet to divide the haves, from the have not.
Those who can afford to pay will do so, whereas those who can't, will do without. The way the world operates is being transpose upon an internet which has seen tremendous growth over the pass 10 years, and has created some of the wealthiest people the world over.
The discarding of Net Neutrality would destroy the level playing field which now exist on the internet, whereby any Tom, Dick, or Harry for that matter can create a website, and be able to compete with any website site on the internet.
This is the real reasoning behind the ditching of Net Neutrality. Websites who do not have the wherewithal to operate on both the fast, and the slow, or two two-tier internet would be in effect left behind. The Net Neutrality stance of the internet is so important as it stands right now that Google, here written by Google's CEO Eric Schmidt , has asked that persons take action to protect Internet's freedom.
Mr. Schmidt in his posting said, "Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody - no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional - has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can't pay. "
Currently, Internet users get access to any Web site on an equal basis. Foreign and domestic sites, big corporate home pages and low-traffic blogs all show up on a user's screen in the same way when their addresses are typed into a browser. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has come out in favor of keeping things that way, but its ability to do so has been in doubt since a federal appeals decision in April 2010 restricted its authority over broadband service.
Some large Internet and telecommunications companies are talking, however, about creating a two-tiered Internet with a fast lane and a slow lane. Google and Verizon, two leading players in Internet service and content, came out with a joint proposal that took a different approach. In a joint policy statement they issued in August 2010 they proposed that regulators enforce those principles on wired connections but not on the wireless Internet. They also excluded something they called "additional, differentiated online services." (newyorktimes)
This will therefore stifle the growth of the internet to allow those with money on their minds to dictate what should be seen, how and when it should be seen, and by whom.
Destruction of Net Neutrality in essence will allow control the internet at the expense of users who will have to pay more money for excess to the internet, if not sooner, then later. Large companies will then be able to unfairly compete against smaller companies, which sometimes have more innovative ideas on how to improve the internet. One only need to look at how many smaller internet related companies have been purchased by larger ones who continue to seek control over the internet.
This situation is almost akin to the Microsoft Corporation which was prevented by Governments from stifling the growth of smaller companies due to the monopoly it almost had on the computer operating systems around the world, and they associated software, such as the media player, and the browser.
It is therefore imperative that Net Neutrality be not destroyed, and the great possibilities which are endless for the internet from persons working from their bedrooms, or from a garage somewhere (Google's Founders) be not also destroyed.
