Opinion: If you’re not worrying about Net Neutrality, you should
December 22, 2017
A lot of people are freaking out about Net Neutrality — you should be, too, especially if you love the internet.
Net Neutrality is a principal that is protecting our internet, making it open and allowing us faster speed and access to all legal content and applications without blocking certain things. It made sure nothing was blocked, transmission of data wasn’t slowed down, and that people who paid premium wouldn’t get a faster lane than those who didn’t.
On Thursday, Dec. 14, the Federal Communications Commission voted on the Net Neutrality Repeal. What does this mean? It means we could possibly lose the internet if we want to exaggerate. What it really means for us is that, according to the New York Times, well here it is: “Want to access Facebook and Twitter? Under a bundling system, getting on those sites could require paying for a premium social media package.”
This might not make much sense, but in Portugal Internet bundling is already happening. For example, you’d be paying $5.86 a month to have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Tumblr, and other socials — or at least that’s the case in Portugal that people here are fearing will happen with the removal of Net Neutrality.
Personally I wouldn’t appreciate monthly subscriptions to access my socials and the web. The FCC cares more about money than they do the people, which is absolutely sad. This is why you should be freaking out, if this goes through, our freedom on the internet will die.
How is the government just going to sit down and watch three people make a horrible decision for 300+ million Americans who are most definitely speaking against this? Our internet is at risk because of Ajit Pai, or should I say, The Grinch who stole Net Neutrality.
I can’t be paying extra monthly for my socials and freedom on the internet, regardless of how big or small the cost is. The point here is that none of us want to, or should have to, pay for all these. It’s unfair and just not OK.
Julia Greim, a junior at Watertown High, said, “I think that it’s infringing on our rights as Americans and taking away our ability to utilize information on the interweb.”
Christine Zhu, another WHS junior, had a similar thought: “I think that it should definitely not be repealed because everyone should have the same access to the internet.”
The good news here is that Massachusetts is one of the few states that is planning to sue to protect Net Neutrality. There’s still time for a change to happen.
Congress now holds the fate of open internet, let’s hope we don’t have to witness the day the net dies.
–Dec. 21, 2017–
