Technology is facing a fair few shake-ups at the moment. From the changing of data protection regulations, which will change how data is collected and protected, to calls for tougher policing online, to Twitter wading in and out of political issues with no precedents set on what Heads of State are allowed to do/say.
In essence, it revolves around having control over your own internet experience. One of the major issues of Losing Net Neutrality is the vested interests that many communications companies may have – certain content could be rendered inaccessible to some users, in order to push a certain agenda. In 2015, millions of concerned internet users lobbied the FCC in order to ensure the internet was free to share and access data without governmental interference.
However, President Trump’s FCC chairman, Ajit Pai, is threatening the current net Neutrality and handing the reigns over to the government to police how the internet is used – plans to which over 20 million people are vehemently opposed. There isn’t a group that wouldn’t feel the knock-on effect of the internet being policed in such a way.
For example, gamers are one of the biggest groups likely to be affected due to the interconnectivity of gaming with the internet. Platforms like Twitch and Steam may be affected, and prices may be hiked at various times to enter live multiplayer modes on Xbox or the PlayStation, or even PCs.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has come out urging internet users to fight to retain net neutrality, as the social media giant could itself be restricted. Verizon bosses could cause a blanket ban on anything that Verizon shareholders don’t want to be given air on social media, and pick and choose what is allowed to be posted. While Facebook and Twitter are content platforms that allow almost anything (within legal and moral reason), losing net neutrality would end up with them being censored and likely losing a lot of users.
Another issue of net neutrality is that people will still try to access certain things, and may end up using the dark web or other means of tampering with the internet. By driving people away from the safety of the "visible" web in order to do innocuous things, they are placed in a position of potential harm.
Net neutrality is extremely important to ensure the web freedom remains and internet users can use the internet the way they have been doing since its inception. The concept of the internet would be destroyed if ISPs had a governing hand over what users can access online or where people go when surfing the web.
