Information is a valuable resource these days, companies and governments go to great lengths to collect, control, and even sell information. Whom ever has control of the information is in a great position of power. The internet has become the largest single source of information, and its available to almost everyone! If you control the entire internet, then you may just be the most powerful person/company in the world. Let me borrow a line from my favorite comic book uncle, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” This has never been more truer in anything during my lifetime than the current debate on ‘Net Neutrality.’

What is net neutrality? Net neutrality is the basic principle of allowing all users to access any website, content, use any kind of device, and use any kind of communication, without any restrictions or degrade in quality by your ISP. This is how most of us roam the internet, no restrictions!

Most of the major communication companies expressed an interest in creating a tiered internet in order to guarantee the timely delivery of certain customer’s network traffic. In other words, they want to charge content providers, like Google, a few extra bucks to “make sure” their website loads just as fast as their competitors. If Google or other content providers don’t pay the telecommunications company this extra fee, then they might find their website loading extra slow. To make matters worse, most of the telecom companies proposing this tiered internet system are content providers themselves, ensuring that their own products and websites load just as fast, if not, faster than their competitors! This doesn’t just mean telecom companies are getting a little extra cash, it also means that us as users are going to suffer. If Google is taking ‘forever’ to load, then we’ll just start using Yahoo! or other search engines. Telecom companies will control the websites we access by ensuring some are faster than the others, in essence, they want to herd us to their own products or supporters instead of their competition.

A tiered internet system will not only affect large businesses and large content providers, but it will also have an effect on the little guys. Start up websites will eventually get smothered by larger websites since they just don’t have the money to ensure their speed and net presence. We’re already paying money to use the information superhighway, why must we pay more money to ensure our traffic is getting there in a timely manner?

This past year (2007) was filled with all kinds debates, talks, and finally, a decision by the government. It was a small victory for net neutrality, but still only the first steps in the long road to ensure the protection of the internet. The net neutrality issue is still a very hot topic among our current presidential candidates, everyone currently in the running has addressed it at one point or another.

In the coming years, as more and more services and products begin to come online, we must continue to support net neutrality and ensure that corporations like Comcast, AT&T, and TimeWarner don’t become the sole masters of the internet. What can you do to help? Check out SaveTheInternet.com to stay up to date on the latest happenings.

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