District Court of Appeals Rules Against FCC on Net Neutrality
A sad day for the future of the internet, as The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC could not enforce Net Neutrality on Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
What exactly does this mean? It used to be (under net neutrality) that ISPs would have to supply equal access to all web sites and web traffic. This is no longer the case. Now ISPs can throttle different type of web traffic, or access to web sites. Want to torrent a copy of the new Ubuntu Linux ISO (completely legal)? That may not be so easy if your ISP decides to throttle torrent traffic. This is commonly targeted because pirated movies and music often are distributed through torrents, among other file sharing protocols. In addition to traffic throttling, we may begin to see internet access sold in packages, similar to cable television:
The internet was built and succeeded on the ideals of net neutrality. It leveled the playing field, gave anyone with access to a computer a chance to access and create whatever information they wanted. We need to protect these ideals, so that the Internet can continue to thrive and be the most innovative creation i the history of our world.
There is still hope. Net neutrality could be introduced as a federal law. Protect our Internet, vote for Net Neutrality.