Johnny Cox has written a good speech over network neutrality and its effect. Check it out here. Reprinted below for ease:

How many of you have ever been on or seen a toll road? A toll road is a road that you pay to use in order to get to your destination quicker. Well what if the cost of using that toll road was so expensive that you couldn’t use it. And let’s also say that the alternative route was so slow that you might never get to your destination. That’s exactly what could happen to our internet if congress is successfully bought out by big telephone companies like AT&T and Time Warner.

Right now these companies are lobbying multi-million dollar campaigns to gain the right to set-up a multi-tiered internet. This means that websites that pay them will be put into the express lane allowing for faster speeds to the internet. This also means that websites that won’t or cannot afford to pay will be put into the lower tier and speed will be limited. So let’s say you wanted to go to google.com. You type the address into the address bar push enter. What happens? Well, you would not be instantly connected to Google. Instead, it would be so slow that you opt to go to yahoo.com instead. By this way, these companies are regulating what you see and where you go. There is only one thing stopping these companies from doing just that.

The rule that keeps these companies in check is called network neutrality. Network neutrality ensures all users can access the content or run applications and devices of their choice. Network neutrality is the first amendment to the internet. Unfortunately, net neutrality is not a law but more of a guideline. So, companies have been stepping over the boundaries more and more. Lawrence Lessig created network neutrality to have 3 principles: Non-discrimination, interconnection, and access. Non-discrimination is all traffic must be treated the same. This means that no user or website be given special privileges. Interconnection is everyone and everything must be connected. Or no one can be blocked from accessing content. And access is any user can connect to any other user. Meaning, I can email anyone that I desire without fear that it will be blocked. All of these principles will be obsolete if congress doesn’t pass an amendment making network neutrality a law.

An amendment has already been sent to congress but it was rejected 34 to 22. Numerous websites have been made to unite people around the world and inform people of the danger that could affect us all. Savetheinternet.com has created a coalition of people and organizations all dedicated to preserving network neutrality. All of the websites and organizations all urge people to call their representatives and demand that net neutrality be preserved. Despite having companies like Amazon.com, EarthLink, EBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Skype, Vonage and Yahoo, we are still losing a battle that will have disastrous results if something isn’t done now. Vinton Cerf, creator of the internet, says “The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural characteristics that were part of its design.” Which basically means the internet is so popular because of the freedom it provides. Taking this freedom away should be a crime and punishable by death.

Not only is it wrong, but it is an invasion on our privacy and rights. No one should be able to tell you what websites are better or what search engines to use. That is up to you to determine and choose for yourself. What if HEB told you what food you liked whether or not you liked it? Or a car salesman told you that this car looked better than this one. How would you react to that? This is exactly what is going to happen to our internet unless you do something about it. This is not only going to effect normal everyday users like us, but also small businesses trying to make it. The internet is a major source of income in many new businesses. These businesses are not going to have the money to pay for the premium service they need. Thus, failing the business and the money that would be exchanged. This is going to affect the world as a whole, from our economy, down to our personal lives. If the phone companies get their way, internet use will drop and only privileged people will benefit from the new system.

If we don’t put a stop to these companies right now, the internet will be for the rich and powerful only, while everyone else reverts back to the reliable, but slower library. If this bothers you in the least, then call up your representative and let him know how you feel. Tell your friends to do the same and spread the word of this threat to everyone you know so that our freedom will not be taken away.