No Net Neutrality: The New Reality

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By Saunvida, FY.

Yet another calamity had befallen the USA in the December of 2017, except this time it wasn’t another hurricane but a shocking reform that still managed to sweep the country away, it was named “No Net Neutrality”.
       
Accessing the Internet is not just a hobby anymore, it has become a habit of people around the world like brushing your teeth for instance (sometimes the former is even prioritized over the latter), as inevitable as it is irresistible. Internet is after all the widest platform as of today to access information anywhere, anytime and it is important for it to stay like that. And Net Neutrality aims to do just that. However the recent chain of events that has taken place in the USA is heading in the other direction, to thwart Net Neutrality.
     
But what is Net Neutrality and how does it work? Let’s see how much you know about it before you get to know more about it-

Pop Quiz Time!

11)      What does Net Neutrality majorly focus on?
a.      Providing equal access to the Internet in all countries.
b.      Providing the Internet to whoever and whenever, at the same speed and at the same cost.
c.       Providing the entire Internet cost-free.
                                                                                                                            
22)      What does FCC (An American Government regulatory body) stand for?
a.      Federal Communications Commission.
b.      Finance and Communications Committee.
c.       Federation of Chambers for Communication.
                                                                                                                          
33)      What are ISPs?
a.      Internet Service Providers.
b.      Internet Safeguards and Protectors.
c.       Internet Survey Producers.
                                                                                                                            

44)      Which one of these is a giant ISP in the USA?
a.      Google
b.      Verizon
c.       Siri
                                                                                                                          
55)      Who stand to gain the most by the loss of Net Neutrality?
a.      The Government
b.      Small , struggling businesses
c.       Big, wealthy companies
                                                                                                                                        
(Answers: b,a,a,b)  
   
Now  if you got them all or most right your basics game is strong and if you didn’t, brace yourselves it’s about to-

To understand this concept easily let’s take an example: A cab service company operates in a town with three areas A, B and C all three equidistant to each other. Area ‘A’ houses the residents of the town and Area ‘B’ and Area ‘C’ are marketplaces with the same amenities, facilities and commodities. The cab company charges equal price to take the residents from A to B or A to C as the distance is the same. However one day the cab company and marketplace B make a deal and the cab company starts charging residents that want to travel A to C more while the charges to travel A to B stay the same and if a person wants to go A to C at the same price as before the cab driver will take more time and cause more inconvenience discouraging residents of Area ‘A’ to visit marketplace ‘C’.

If you haven’t yet understood-
Area ‘A’ residents are Internet users.
Marketplace ‘B’ are wealthy and big corporate firms that can afford to make a deal with the cab company.
And the company are the ISPs.
And Marketplace ‘C’ are the small businesses or communities that are not that wealthy.
The absence is of a central regulatory body (in this case FCC) that restricts corporations to make deals with ISP for personal benefits and restrict the growth of small companies, by laying down rules and laws. If these regulations are lifted, what is the use of this regulatory body anyways?

                    Taking away net neutrality means taking away the voice of these small companies and communities, taking away their only platform to make it. Once giant Internet Service Providers have the control of the Internet, they choose which data to send, at what speed, which websites to block and which to promote and the company that pays best has its website promoted the best. This makes Internet not a platform but a pawn in the hands of Capitalists to ensure their own profit and suppress welfare of the community.

                    However, this may not yet be possible as a large movement in favour of Net Neutrality to ensure that this nightmare doesn’t become a reality took place. This has caused the government to rethink its decisions and in approaching future his new policy may be dissolved back to null and leave December 2017 as an important part of Internet’s history and an important chapter that taught many lessons.

 -Isha G.

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