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Welcome, Low-Bandwidth Friends!


Net Neutrality, simply put, is the access of internet at the same speed as everyone else. The traffic created by you is by browsing the web, and it’s treated equally by the companies that have built the infrastructure of the internet (internet service providers or ISPs) like AT&T, for example. They create a superhighway and direct the stream of traffic between you and your internet provider. Net neutrality is important to me because it is a means of creating fair usage of the web, regardless of socio-economic status. According to Chapter 5 of our reading, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is given the authority to review and revise rules relate to structural regulation through a means of limitations or permissions to enter communication markets. Why should you care? The FCC requires ISPs to provide a baseline level of service, but companies will be able to pay to acquire faster service. The end of net neutrality means that this advantage only serves people of a higher socio-economic status, and the rest of us, well, we will be part of the low-bandwidth losers club.

Federal Communications Commission. (2008, August 20). Memorandum opinion and order (FCC 08‐183). Broadband Industry Practices. Retrieved from http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC‐08‐183A1.pdf.

Federal Communications Commission. (2010a). Connecting America: National broadband plan. Retrieved from http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC‐296935A1.pdf.

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