The United States has a set of laws protecting us that are under attack
In the United States the internet is treated as a utility. That makes sense, considering daily life would basically be impossible without it. Net neutrality forces internet service providers to treat all data the same. This protects our right to online freedom.
The Benefits of Treating Data the Same
Imagine a world where data can be treated differently. Internet service providers may change their service based on websites you visit, how much data you have used, and what you are doing.
Changing based on the websites you visit means it can block websites or throttle them. They can get huge profits from blocking websites. One example is the government paying them to block certain political standpoints, force you to pay extra for social media, or slowdown when you are trying to watch videos. Now what happens when a major market move happens? They can slow down/block websites so they can get there first. There is zero reason why they wouldn’t do this, we all know how profit motive works. More on this later.[1]
Another problem is propaganda. The ruling class loves it, it’s how they stay in power. They could easily manipulate what you see so that even on 3rd party search engines and social media you only see what they want you to. Misinformation would be at a never before seen level.
Now what happens when the ISP can discriminate on a person by person basis? Writing bad reviews about them? If that mattered they might block you. Too bad it doesn’t. The startup cost of these types of companies is too high (thanks capitalism), so there is a complete monopoly. The majority of people in rural areas can not even get a 10mb/s connection, while the vast majority (even in cities) have only one choice at those speeds. The majority of the United States only has one choice, as long as you don’t count dialup. [2]
Comcast is rated the most hated company in the United States, but that hasn't changed anything. AT&T still has some of the worst customer service in the world, and we don’t even want to talk about places like TDS.[3]
The worst part about discrimination on a person by person basis is that opposing views can easily be blocked. With enough money anybody could be cut from any part of the internet for any reason. People could be banned from social media by the government or any other member of the ruling class. The last of our freedom would be taken away.
The Freedom of Ideas
They may do more than to just block specific people, but entire ideologies and ideas. You may not be able to kill an idea, but you can slow its spread to a crawl. Smaller companies, websites, and even blockchains may be blocked by ISP. If they are based in the United States, or have a majority of use coming from there, it essentially shuts them down for good. Think of what happens when facebook wants to attack steemit? Steemit loses a massive amount of its users overnight.
We are seeing the end stages of capitalism before us. We must either fight back or die with it.
Excellent post brother
Without internet daily life would basically be impossible.. I love this statment. resteemed
A very good post very good achievement greetings from me @abupasi.alachy
I don't think there is anything that can be done about this. There is a massive problem with central control and blockchain technologies don't seem to offer a solution so far.
the problem is capitalism.
You,re so cool!
Great topic and I agree, they throttle you back to dial up out in the sticks right now so what the future holds has to be available without the blocks they have on us already, there are many places online already that is blocked in my country (America). Shared.
Its all capitalisms fault! LOL
is that sarcasm
You,re so cool!
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So you want a law passed to protect Net Neutrality? The internet is servers run by corporations started and run by individuals and you want the government to pass a law to regulate them? Should the government tell us how to do things with our stuff?
actually I want to destroy private property so that the collective of people can run the internet themselves instead of the ruling class, but we literally won't even be able to privately communicate on the internet for any period of time without net neutrality.
I don't have time to run the internet. Do you have time? Can I trust you or should there be some laws to keep you from running it in a way that differs from what is in the best interest of humanity. Also what if we disagree as a people what is best? Who decides?
"I don't have time to run the internet. Do you have time?"
workers are running the isps on their own right now, why would that change?
"Can I trust you or should there be some laws to keep you from running it in a way that differs from what is in the best interest of humanity"
decentralised and worker controlled means that is far more likely, right now profit motive and best for humanity are always at odds.
". Also what if we disagree as a people what is best? "
you work it out. Unlike capitalism, you will get a say in what happens
You,re so cool!
You,re so cool!
"started and run by individuals" actually wrong. The workers started and run it.
Workers are individuals sir.
they are.
But under capitalism they are only needed for their labor. That means that if the labor is not of the quality the ruling class wants, they are ignored and will starve.
So what do we do with the folks who do not want to work? If they have no talent for art, no ability to lead, no mind for teaching what do they do?
what do they do under capitalism? Usually manual labor, or starvation. Under communism, it would really depend. There are very few people without any talent whatsoever. Even if they can't lead or teach, they can still be part of a team. They can still learn to program, problem solve, or even tell jokes at the very least.
You,re so cool!
So one way they do manual labor and the other they programmers and comedians? where do they get the ability to preform these awesome jobs? School? Who will run them?
You,re so cool!
What are you trying to say truth? Are you a bot?
You,re so cool!