By Oscar Gonzalez/@originalgamer1
On Feb. 26, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules to protect the Internet. Some still debate on whether this would hurt or hamper the Internet as we know it, but the alternative was a more troublesome outlook.
The center of the FCC ruling was net neutrality. Back in February, before the FCC’s ruling, we wanted to see if students and staff on campus knew the meaning of net neutrality. Responses were varied, with the majority of students either unknowing or confused on the issue. But it’s important to know about since the decision impacts all students.
Net neutrality is the principle of keeping an open and free Internet that doesn’t discriminate against individuals.
For several years, large telecommunications companies like Comcast and Time Warner did what they could for the betterment of themselves rather than their customers. It took the power of the FCC to stop them in their tracks before they could damage the Internet any further.
Tactics such as throttling internet speeds, removing local competition and allowing a certain amount of data to their customers serves only in the interest of their bottom line. Their latest ploy was to institute priority lanes for companies that pay extra, which would force businesses and consumers to pay more money in order to receive priority service over those that don’t pay extra.
With the FCC ruling, companies that had their way with the Internet are now forced to follow stiff regulations that would have not seen the light of day thanks to their strong lobbying force. Included in the FCC ruling are bans against previously mention tactics as well as rules to quell any further questionable practices.
Although the ruling from the FCC will hinder smaller companies and could potentially result in those companies going out of business, the alternative would be to continue allowing large telecommunications rule the Internet as they see fit.
This ruling is a direct result of when companies take advantage of technology and their customers rather than allowing for technology to grow and become beneficial to all.
