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What is Net Neutrality And Why Should You Care?

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What is Net Neutrality and why should people care about it?

In a nutshell, NN is the idea that the Internet is a shared, global network that should not be tampered with at its base level. If you want to be part of the network, you have to respect the network. This means, if you want your sites to be accessible to everybody else, then you have to make sure your customers have access to the entirety of the Internet. You can't break it into pieces and show either prejudice or favoritism in determining which content can be accessed over your system.

Simple as that. You want in? All or nothing. Play FAIR. Treat others the way you like to be treated.

Beyond this, it's important to note that before the Internet came around, there were plenty of private networks created and run by private companies. They could do what they wanted. But the Internet was created by taxpayer money and made wide open to anybody because it was a public resource. Because nobody "owned" the Internet, it prospered and eventually became the default network.

Now private companies want to take control of it and slice it into pieces and charge extra for parts, or deny you access to parts of it if the content isn't something they agree with. That's really bad.

Net Neutrality opponents argue that Net Neutrality is anti-freedom-of-speech, but they are lying. What they really mean, is that they believe they should have the freedom to deny you access to content over their network, and if you don't allow it, you're denying them their rights. It's a bizarro, irrational argument.

Why do some companies want Net Neutrality abolished?

Simple. They can make more money charging their customers for access. They can shut down competitive Internet services so they're the only game in town. The abolishment of Net Neutrality will cost consumers more and offer them less choices.

The Net Neutrality fight is split clearly along party lines.

The Republicans and the Libertarian parties are in favor of abolishing Net Neutrality. Their corporate benefactors have paid them well to push a variety of narratives convincing people it's a good thing to get rid of. To them, it's about money and control. Their idea of "freedom of speech" is refusing to carry anyone else's traffic on their network if they can't monetize it the way they want.

The Democrats have been the only party to consistently fight to protect the neutrality of the Internet. If you care about this issue, there is a party you can vote for that will protect it. Remember this in 2018. It's really important if you want full access to information, news and everything else.

It's quite popular to say, "both parties are the same" and they both are pawns to special interests, but not all parties are equally beholden to special interests, and the Net Neutrality issue is another clear example of this. If you care about the Internet, protest, contact your representatives. If you don't want to have to keep doing this over and over, vote for people who have a clear respect for the Internet. Pay attention to which parties are easier to reach and more attentive to your needs.

Some corporations are being deceitful.

You may on occasion hear that AT&T or Verizon is in favor of Net Neutrality. In reality, they and other large providers have spent millions to shut it down. Now they're muddying the waters trying to re-define what Net Neutrality means. If they can't get it abolished, then they'll write their own series of bills that re-defines what NN is, and includes the loopholes they want to filter and control traffic on their network. No matter what they say, the large providers are not friends of Net Neutrality. Beware of ANY legislation they propose which supposedly "protects" the sanctity of the Internet.

VOTE IN 2018!

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Al Franken Exposes Comcast Hypocrisy

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[Liars]
As Comcast seeks Congressional approval for their merger with NBC, Senator Al Franken notes that out of one side of Comcastcast's mouth they claim the FCC will keep them from abusing their almost monopolist status, and out of the other, their lawyers are claiming the FCC has no jurisdiction in enforcing their decisions.

It's refreshing to see a politician finally act appropriately when he's being blatantly lied to. And especially interesting to see the CEO of NBC, Al Franken's old boss, cow tow to him now that he's a senator.

I think Franken has probably blown his chances to host SNL.

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2011-01-09 15:14:10 | Comment on this Article

Comcast Caught Filtering Political E-Mails

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American online activist David Swanson alleges that Comcast and Symantec have blocked emails drawing attention to the so-called Downing Street memo, which activists have seized on as proof that the last Iraq war was planned in advance.

READ MORE | 48 comments since 2008-12-25 09:33:16 | Comment on this Article

Comcast Sued For Selling Out Their Customers

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A Washington mother of two is suing Comcast for releasing her personal information to the RIAA, who then unleashed a collection agency to extort $4500 from her for downloading copyrighted music, or face legal action. The issue here is that Comcast burped out customer information without appropriate legal due process. Let this be a lesson to cable Internet customers... companies like Comcast don't respect your rights. At least DSL from telephone companies are more respectful of customers' privacy.

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2005-04-18 19:19:46 | Comment on this Article

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