Hello and welcome to “Serious Topic”. Feel free to wander off if “srs biznes” makes you itchy, but hope you read and explore more on this.
Network neutrality is a term that’s been floating around for a few years now. What is it? Wikipedia defines it as
a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, on the modes of communication allowed, that does not restrict content, sites, or platforms and where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most observers.
Real world translation and simplification? Net neutrality is a network where your ISP can’t prevent you from visiting YouTube anytime you want or downloading a 200mb trial for the latest MMO. In a network that is non-neutral, your ISP will determine what sites you can visit and when. Want to go to YouTube? Sure, between 11pm and 6am. Why? You didn’t pay for the “All-Access Premium Plus Expanded” package.
Want to see an extreme example of the new future if the ISPs manage to block legislation protecting a neutral network?
Want that? Yeah, me either. Yes, that’s the ‘OMGZpanic!” version, but there’s still a lot of truth in it. With a non-neutral network, gamers will be finding themselves paying higher rates to have that all-important lag-free access to the internet or flat out blocked from it.
Want a bit more in-depth discussion? Read this commentary. Tech reporters from all over have been commenting on this and urging their readers to take a stand. Boing Boing, a site that’s vocal about copyright fighting and net neutrality (along with the wonderful oddness that is society) has also been urging it’s readers to step forth and fight the ISPs. There’s an entire site devoted to keeping our networks free of tier systems and downgrading: SavetheInternet.com. Click over at their “about the coalition” section. It’s not just the ACLU that’s joined in. And then there’s the ECA or Entertainment Consumers Association. Not heard of them? It’s a group founded to help protect gamers’ rights to play what they want. Laughable? Not really. In a world where video games are being blamed for every killing and crime done by anyone under the age of 28, I personally like knowing there’s an organization out there working to ensure that I’m not stuck playing electronic versions of My Little Pony.
Bottom line is that the world has changed. Electronics that were unheard of even 40 years ago have become commonplace. Video games are no longer solely a single player affair. People meet and connect through the internet through gaming, VOIP, and YouTube. Censorship of the internet, whether through deliberate degradation of connections, a tiered service allowing different levels of connectivity, or outright blocking of certain activities (lawful uses of Bittorrent, large file transfer from freelance designers to clients, etc.), needs to be fought. So this is one more link I’ll be adding to the site after today. Until there is legislature protecting network neutrality, and the ISPs continue to fill the FCC meetings with their own people to prevent everyone else from speaking on behalf of a neutral network, it will stay up.
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I guess it’s naivety, but I just can’t =imagine= those kinds of restrictions ever getting past our lawmakers. While the concept of what the ISPs want to do is horrifying, I can’t get too worked up because it just seems so outside of the realm of reality that it could ever come to that.
I know. Never say never. But even if I were worked up, I’m not sure what a person like me can do about this. Are there specific things that are being asked of ‘we the consumer’ with regards to this issue?
Head-in-the-sand,
~Rhoe
The lawmakers have actually voted down amendments and bills to keep network neutrality in place. They have only taken steps back away from letting the telcos and ISP giants like Comcast have their way by virtue of having groups like SavetheInternet.com step forward, along with the voting public telling their congress critters what their opinion is. If no one says anything except for the lobbyists for the telcos, then no protections will be put into place again. We used to have protections to keep a neutral internet. They are no longer there.
It does seem like they’d be shooting themselves in the foot to give everything over to the telcos. However, I’ve seen in the past few years the telcos limited everything little by little, all because no one stood up and called them on it. When they’re finally called to the carpet, they plead ignorance or flat out deny. The FCC pulled them into meetings over limiting customers access and downgrading their services on the fly because the customers “overused” the service they’d paid for. They argue that it’s costing them money and going to a tiered service will actually help promote growth. I argue that a tiered service will grow their bottom line and that’s all. For a larger arguement on that, see the story by John C. Dvorack, someone that has a much sharper mind than I, and can see the long view on this.
What can we normal folks do? Write our congress critters and let them know what our opinion is. Go to SavetheInternet.com and click their “act Now” button. Sign online petitions. Educate friends and family. And when you can, IF you can (I know internet connections are limited choices sometimes), choose a provider that doesn’t have a history of restricting what it’s users can do, like Comcast does.
Will it save the world? End hunger? Create world peace and we’ll all live happily ever after in an evil-free world? No. This is about internet usage and how it affects us as users and gamers online. It’s a small thing, yes, and yes it’s “just a game.” But in that “just a game”, I’ve made friends from literally around the world, and can instantly communicate with them. That’s wher it comes into play: the access to humanity in different ways. The stretching of creativity and the entertainment of millions of people around the world. People already deal with restrictions placed on them by work environment firewalls. Other countries have websites and entire domains that are blocked by their ISP, which is government-owned. The last thing I want is an American ISP telling me I can’t look at another site because it’s on one of their competitors’ networks.
Okay hushing now. >.>
I like that multi-level Internet access graphic you have there. Did you make it, or did you find it somewhere else? If you made it, would you mind if I used it on an upcoming blog post of mine (with attribution, of course)? Feel free to reply by email, if you’d like.
Hey! thanks for reading the article. As far as where the graphic came from, I wish I could take credit for it, but I found it through Google Image Search. Several websites and articles have linked to it since it was put out there.