Technology
Biggest Internet companies band together to stop FCC net neutrality plan
The FCC has been on a month long journey into the depth of hatred from almost everyone who can use the Internet and understands the basic fundamentals of what makes the Internet and Web such an incredible place.
For many, the Internet runs at the same speeds through all websites, and even if people complain that Twitch.TV or YouTube takes years to buffer, this is normally due to low data speeds from the customer or poor servers from the company in charge of the website. The ISP is not involved.
Recently, ISPs have wanted to get involved in the regulation of Internet, not just for consumers but for companies. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon Wireless, and AT&T have all been pushing new regulations through the FCC to develop “fast lanes” on the Internet, allowing the ISPs to charge extra for some companies.
This is breaking every building block of net neutrality, something the creators of the Web and tech giants have been trying to combat for years. The FCC’s new Chairman, Tom Wheeler, has been called out for his past connections to the private sector and the possibility he is being pushed to make decisions for companies like Comcast.
Not only does this stop innovation, since the ISPs will be able to charge whatever they want to companies to run their websites fast, it will allow ISPs to offer their services in the fast lane for free, while others like Google, Amazon, and Netflix have to use the slow-lane or pay the toll fee.
These tech giants have hit back with an open letter to the FCC, stating the changes would be fundamentally wrong and go against everything the FCC has done in the past thirty years to ensure net neutrality exists and can continue to exist in the United States.
This is only happening in the US, as all EU countries have good amounts of laws and boundaries so ISPs cannot overstep the mark, and in places like China, the growth of Internet companies is fueling billions of dollars of growth in the Chinese economy, something we are sure China will not want to regulate.
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