Net neutrality is a complicated issue that has been floating around for many years, but unfortunately not many students at Shepherd University understand what net neutrality is and how it will affect them in the future.
The reason net neutrality is so complicated is because everyone has their own interpretation of it. On one side, net neutrality is the right of people for free communication over the Internet. With the widespread use of the Internet by every student at Shepherd, the ability to communicate freely over the Internet is a must.
On the other side, it is seen as something that will lead to the Internet becoming government regulated, taxed and made into something that will never be as good as it was before.
While most students now have their Internet provided for them whether they are living at home or living on campus, when they graduate and move out on their own they will be paying for it themselves.
Right now to get Internet, consumers pay for it from Internet service providers or ISP’s like Verizon and Comcast. They can get the standard speed package or can pay a little bit more to get faster speeds.
Net neutrality also will provide everyone the same speed. This could be great for smaller businesses and young people trying to make it on the Internet.
But the effect on larger businesses that college students use regularly could be dramatic. One of the biggest areas is Netflix. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Netflix is now the largest user of bandwidth on the Internet with 32 percent of traffic.
But net neutrality could slow down Netflix service to everyone, causing lesser quality videos or they not to work at all
One fear cited by those who are against net neutrality is that the Internet will become government regulated, and where there is government regulation, there will be taxes.
A tax on the Internet means that it can no longer be the place of free communication that it always has been.
Dr. Matt Kushin, assistant professor of communications at Shepherd University, says that larger companies like Netflix, “could pay more to the Internet provider to get into a fast lane.”
This creates the idea that large companies can play the system to their advantage and gain something over smaller content providers who simply cannot pay the price for the “fast lane.”
Something similar happened to the phone companies in the mid-1990s, with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act’s long title sums it up perfectly: “An act to promote and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers.”
But when I went through old phone bills in my house, I found that more than a third of that bill was taxes that went to the government.
This could be a dangerous insight into what could be coming to the Internet with net neutrality. If the government takes over the Internet it could standardize it, or as Kushin said it could possibly block sites all together based on the company’s bias.
With net neutrality still being debated, it is unlikely there will be a choice made about it soon, but students should understand what it could possibly mean for them in the future and how it will affect them.
Great article and great job Mike!
It does not seem unreasonable to suggest that internet in this world of globalization helping not only students to prepare their study as well as improving the teaching technique to the teachers. In that case the entire net neutrality should be the key factors to make the opportunities to make the best way out for educational actions to all. Some assignment expert also can help.Thanks for sharing the best guidelines to use the net in proper and precise way.