NDM 26

Who will be hit hardest by net neutrality? Marginalised America

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/18/net-neutrality-marginalised-america-open-internet-fcc

- The Guardian

Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) treat everyone’s data equally – whether that’s an email from your mother, a bank transfer or a streamed episode of Stranger Things. It means that ISPs, which control the delivery pipes, don’t get to choose which data is sent more quickly, or which sites get blocked or throttled (for example, slowing the delivery of a TV show because it is streamed by a video company that competes with a subsidiary of the ISP) or who has to pay extra. For this reason, some have described net neutrality as the “first amendment of the internet”. 

For people the internet is not just a way to connect with friends. It part of their daily lifestyle and helps them function in the society. Marco Castro Bohorquez, is a HIV positive patient and the way he reaches his doctor is through skype, which will come under threat.

• Since its inception, the internet has been an open and neutral platform. The principle that all legal internet traffic should be treated equally is the vehicle for innovation that sparked the digital economy. But the internet as we know is under attack.
• There are 69 million people in the United States living without home-based internet services

I think that net neutrality is important because it is what keeps people connected in the 21st century. There are many people that rely on the internet to be and open and neutral place. The benefits of net neutrality are mostly aimed towards the larger companies like Google or Facebook who are less likely to be affected by this. Smaller companies trying to make a break through will struggle to make it up in the hierarchy. Therefore reinforcing this Marxist views.