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Net Neutrality
By joe | July 9, 2007
Ever hear about the debates over funding for Public Access media, such as television or radio? Periodically, you can hear Public Access outlets campaigning for funds, so that they can continue to be heard. It’s important to keep this voice alive, because it represents the unbiased voice of reason. Public Access media doesn’t promote an agenda, other than the distribution of information, without sensationalizing it. Television and radio both come with hefty price tags to allow broadcast ability, including permission to even exist as a broadcast entity. This translates into those messages reaching the masses from the people with the most capital. The Internet levels the playing field, when compared to television or radio.
The cost to have a voice on the Internet is minor in comparison to television or radio. This level field has brought about innovations, social innovations, which might otherwise not have been experienced. Instead of creations that make the most money, we have services, supported mostly by donations and contributions of time and service. Today we have Wikipedia, blogging, podcasting, and instant messaging. None of which, most of us knew about ten years ago. Without the ability to create in a level field, how possible would any of these services or technologies have been? Many of the free creations later lead to methods to profit from them, due to their popularity. Advertising has been a powerful motivator for the Internet. Internet technologies have created markets around the free services available, such as computers and today’s media players, such as the iPod.
Today, anyone with something to say, can speak on the Internet, and it is treated equally among all voices. If we start to qualify who can speak, with who has the funds, then I believe what will be said will be a whole lot less interesting or beneficial to the bulk of us using the Internet.
Please follow the link on the left border of my site to make your views heard about this very important matter. There is less than a week before big telecom succeeds in lobbying Congress and the FCC to limit our abilities to speak freely.
Topics: politics | 1 Comment »
November 19th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Right on Joe. This is definitely a major issue in our lifetime. A level playing field keeps democracy alive from the control of the few.