Why net neutrality is important

You should really care about net neutrality. Why? Because there is (was?) still one thing in this world that treats all content equally - the internet.

Think about it. You can read articles, watch movies, play games, perform research and so much more. But the beauty of it all is that no any one kind of content is treated better than the other. All of these things are delivered to you at the same speed (assuming the source is capable) and there's no favouritism.

The problem now is that the internet is being run and or connected to you courtesy of companies that also own content that used to be delivered via other means, like TV and movies and music stores. These companies are trying (and in some cases succeeding) to control what content gets delivered to you with priority, or better speed - theirs of course.

So when the company that connects you to the internet offers TV and movie programming on demand, they are going to allow their own content to reach you with better speed and access than a competitor like Netflix. Unless they're willing to pay more. Some amateur content creator whose stuff is stored on YouTube doesn't stand a chance. This isn't fair and it leads to uneven competition.

Do you want the companies that operate or connect the internet to you to control how content is managed? If the answer is 'no', you really should let your government know that this isn't acceptable. Because the companies have them convinced that you couldn't care less.

In a recent development, in a filing in the federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) "Protecting and promoting the Open Internet" proceeding, AT&T has promised to lower its customers Internet bills if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to charge companies like Netflix for faster content delivery.