Help to keep the net neutral
I never thought it would come to this. But infancy and greed that this new medium of communication, learning, interaction, entertainment breeds, there are all kinds of suckers waiting for their undue and perverted share of money, dominance and control. We all laugh out about world domination. But if this succeeds, it just might as well wipe the smile off our faces for good.
The problem of keeping neutrality of the net is real. Or else there would not be so many people up in arms against the twisted ideas that phone and cable companies are touting to file and get a legislation passed.
Happenings in the US will affect you and me too because, US is, by far, the largest supporter of a lot of internet infrastructure and web traffic. Gatekeeping it or subverting it all depending upon your choice of the funnel (free or paid internet based on content, as proposed by the new media wannabe gatekeepers) is the end of what we have known internet today as and envisioned it for tomorrow.
Internet is like a human body. Each node is an organ. Every node is an important link in the chain. When one or more organs malfunction or begin to draw more resources than they should, then the body becomes unhealthy. If you can understand the logic, then you’ll understand the need to unite globally. The point is, that happenings in the US will affect every internet user in some way or the other causing permanent damage to the health of the overall system.
I linked to Sir Tim Berners Lee voicing his deep concern on this issue last month. It is not enough. Join in the efforts to keep the internet independent of the quality of content.
In much of the sense, this kind of pay-for-better quality, popular song and such others as touted by RIAA/MPAA evil associations, and even iTunes thinking on those lines (for charging more than 99c for popular songs) definitely have their share in inciting such idiotic tiered internet that is being proposed now.
The only way to have a fast lane that is useful - that people will pay a premium for - is if there are slow lanes.
Whether you are in the US or not, please join the initiative and raise your concerns to those that matter, or else, we’ll soon see our umbilicals cut and we’ll start floating back to the dark ages.