Fair access for all!

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is the idea that public information networks aspire to treat content, sites, and platforms equally. It means equal access to the internet; the principle that internet users should be able to decide which content and applications they can view and use.

The argument is that internet companies should not be able to use their market power to discriminate against certain applications and content, just as telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can and cannot call. Broadband carriers should not be able to restrict online activity using their market control. Those who are in favour of net neutrality claim that the telecom companies’ purpose lies more in profiting from their control of internet material rather than from the demand for their services or content.

When I want to watch a video online, why is it that I am restricted to how much I watch or the quality of the video, when others can get the video with a faster connection and better quality? It is the private sector that wants to make money, and as result, opposes network neutrality. For the sake of network neutrality, I could argue that I have just as much right to watch the video in real-time as someone who pays a dollar more per month. We, the public, argue for the sake of net neutrality, and the right to access everything on the internet equally.

Cable companies, like Comcast – who illegally inhibited users of its high-speed internet service from downloading file-sharing software – should no longer be able to restrict the public of what we access we have on the internet.