Topical cartoonist Mark Fiore weighs in on a recent federal appeals court ruling that threatens to crush our freedom of information and entertainment access, or ‘net neutrality’ as that access has been labeled.
Did you hear about the recent federal appeals court ruling that shot down the terribly-named “net neutrality?” Most people probably didn’t notice the news and aren’t quite sure what net neutrality actually means anyway. Before the court ruling, Internet service providers had to treat all content going through their pipes equally, just like conversations are treated going through a phone line. That is “net neutrality.”
After the ruling, if you’re a big company with some bucks, you can pay Verizon, Comcast or a similar ISP to speed your data along faster. For the right price, your data can jump ahead in line. ISPs will also be allowed to block content they find objectionable, though they swear they would never ever do that, of course.
Doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, right? Imagine, though, two or more “Internets,” one that zips along the latest Netflix movie and another Internet that creeps along, delivering boring old educational material to public libraries. The Internet will be as fast as you can pay, which seems like a sure way to kill Al Gore’s best invention ever.