QU: Round Two

Net Neutrality

CroSpec makes some very valid points in his blog related to net neutrality. I, like him, just viewed a video on YouTube titled Humanity Lobotomy (2nd Draft). I’ll admit I had heard the term ‘net neutrality’ but had never known what it meant. I noticed Maine Senator Olympia Snowe in the clip, so I decided to delve further into the issue.

Snowe displays a better understanding of the internet than Ted Stevens. She stated: “What has made the Internet such a remarkable success is the ability of people everywhere to experience a world of their own choosing on their own terms. This freedom has fostered an unprecedented exchange of information and ideas that has led to an explosion in consumer choice, the creation of new businesses, and the spread of democratic ideals around the globe. Unfortunately, if Congress does not act, the age of digital democracy will come to an end. Senator Dorgan and I introduced the Internet Freedom Preservation Act to prevent fundamental changes to the internet that would undo the democratic principles upon which it was founded. 1.

I’m not so sure I would like a controlled Internet. If the radio hadn’t been controlled, how much further would it have developed, and to what degree. CryoSpec says it best when he said,

The internet is a place for people to connect and create content.  The worse kind of internet imaginable would be one where all the content was created by corporations. 2.

Just what would be left if in fact corporations were left to create the content we see every day? They may edit and put their own spin on items in order to create a more favorable view for certain topics. When *we* create the Internet, we are able to put our own opinion on things, yes but people are also allowed to create their own opinions after reading multiple ideas from multiple people.

1. Mosquito. Olympia Snowe–Maine’s Republican Senator. 13 September 2006. <http://mosquito-blog.blogspot.com/2006/09/olympia-snowe-maines-republican-senator.html>

2. CryoSpec. Human Lobotomy- Second Draft. 7 October 2008. <http://cryospec.qublogs.com/2008/10/07/humanity-lobotomy-second-draft/>