You may have heard of the term, Net Neutrality, but may only have a simple understanding of what this term represents. Admittedly, when I first heard about the subject, I wasn't quite sure what it meant. Indeed, if you click on the link to the term you will get a long, drawn out explanation of what it may or may not do as far as charging users access to the internet. In short, Net Neutrality is a good thing from the standpoint of search engines, bloggers, and just about everyone else concerned about free speech. No "tollroads" are set up by the various internet service providers such as AOL, BellSouth, Verizon, etc., that would effectively tax your access to many sites. Already you pay a monthly fee for DSL, cable, dial up, etc. For those people against Net Neutraliy, they would be able to slap on an additional fee to allow you to access various sites on the internet. Supposedly, they want a cut in the ad revenue generated by Google and others and feel that they are giving away some of their carrying charges for free. Well, long story short I can tell you this: I like Net Neutrality. Just this past week, Congress said "no" to doing away with Net Neutrality, but there is always a chance the issue could surface once more at a later date. Perhaps not coincidentally I am writing this on the cusp of America's 230rd birthday. We live in a land where we value freedom, but freedom certainly isn't free. So, the next time Net Neutrality resurfaces, please pay close attention to what could become one of the greatest freedom issues of our time. Not just for Americans either, but on a global scale. Finally, we don't want to become like Communist China who is, to this day, restricting access to the internet for millions of its citizens. |
