By SOLEIL PAZ
Contributing Writer
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As part of a college community, and as modern-day human beings in general, it goes without saying that the Internet is something that has dominated our lives for several years. So much so that we sometimes forget how much of the world is Web based. We use it so liberally, on those late nights in the library for hurried research papers or on lazy Sunday afternoons when Netflix is the only option. This open outlet for easy information sharing is absolutely essential to us, even for the smallest act of checking your Twitter feed a few minutes before class.
If you’ve been keeping up with your usual networking routines, you will know that last Wednesday, numerous major Web sites such as Foursquare, Tumblr, Etsy, and Netflix started superimposing what is affectionately known as the “spinning wheel of death” onto their Web pages–that iconic loading symbol that never actually seems to load anything–as a form of protest in this latest battle for the Internet.
The protest, which remained active for the entire day, was a response to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its proposal to create regulations that would eliminate net neutrality, which is what makes the Internet today so incredibly useful.
Simply put, net neutrality allows the Internet to be used as a public resource. Internet providers cannot charge companies for the ability to display Web content at a faster rate, making our standard access consistently quick and easy.
People like us can share and download to our heart’s content. But now, the FCC is proposing to abolish that rule, thereby creating an Internet fast lane for Web sites that have the extra money, but a very unfortunate situation for Web sites that don’t.
The recent Web page protest, now being referred to as “Internet Slowdown Day,” was especially powerful if, like me, you go mental when a video takes more than 12 seconds to load. It was meant to show users on an enormous scale what an Internet without net neutrality would look like. Many participating Web sites invited visitors to contact the FCC or even Congress, carrying the simple popup message: “If there were Internet slow lanes, you’d still be waiting.” The action was so successful that the number of complaints sent to the FCC regarding net neutrality has surpassed one-and-a-half million, breaking an all-time record.
And ironically, the massive surge of complaints sent electronically proved to be overwhelming and a bit troublesome for the FCC’s online system of public comment. The Commission has been working frantically just to get back on track and catch up with all the content. It sucks to have a slow network, doesn’t it? Internet: 1, FCC: 0.
As someone who uses the Internet religiously, losing it is a frightening prospect. It is how I get ahold of the news, stay on top of my classwork, discover new ideas, keep in touch with friends, and frankly, how I kill time when I can’t think of anything better to do.
The threat of it getting taken away was an eye-opener, making me aware of how dependent on it we have truly become and how much it is needed. Whether or not these net neutrality regulations are put in place, this is affecting all of us.
Our access to basic outlets of information is not something that can be so lightly questioned. The proposition to increase government control of the Internet has been likened to the idea of censorships; by definition, filtering out the information we are not allowed to see; and that idea scares us. The concept of someone else telling us what we can and cannot think is terrifying. Proposing to control and regulate the media more than the government already does is a bold move and I daresay not very clever, given the backlash it has already received from basically everyone who currently benefits from the Internet.
There is also the fairly significant detail that under the FCC’s proposal, this new Internet connectivity would only be advantageous for people and companies that can afford to pay for it, almost like toll booths for the Web.
Multiple public policies have been created similarly, with the belief that if the rich get richer, the wealth will ultimately spread to everyone else. But the only thing that seems to happen is, guess what? The rich get richer: with those Internet toll booths, lesser-known websites would take annoyingly long to load, which in turn would cause their users to gravitate toward the faster Web pages. People will then be limited to a specific selection of sites, and before we know it, our free and open Internet full of art and writing and music will cease to exist.
We all have modes of expressing ourselves through the Internet, whether it be blogging, gaming, watching, posting your own creations and content, or simply sharing an opinion by updating your status. It is within our right to use this resource as a channel, the way we always have. All I am asking for, all anyone is asking for, is the right to continue.
