The Internet Served Equally
Growing up in a world where the ability to access various kinds of information at the touch of a finger is possible, one can imagine a life fulfilled with numerous opportunities to learn and be entertained. Of course, to many individuals, this is often referred to as the “Internet” and its practicality is often taken for granted. However, that freedom to equally access all public content on the Internet, commonly referred to as net neutrality, has been jeopardized in the hands of Internet service providers over the past few years. Net neutrality is defined in the online Oxford English Dictionary as: “the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the …show more content…
Although the issue of net neutrality has been resolved at the Federal Communications Commissions, whose job is to ensure that telecommunications technologies are operated safely and fairly, with a 3-2 vote in favor of net neutrality (Chappell, “FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For ‘Open Internet’”), the battle seems to have been revived once again with the recent installment of Trump’s …show more content…
One case that has often been referred to as the prime example of a violation of net neutrality principles existed between Bit-Torrent and Comcast. Bit-Torrent is used by many individuals as a file sharing program where one user transfers files to other users over a communications protocol. Comcast, widely known as an American broadcasting and cable television company whose revenue makes it one of the largest in the world, interfered with “some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online” (Svensson, “Comcast blocks some internet traffic”). By throttling Bit-Torrent services and preventing them from taking up too much bandwidth, Comcast states its goal is to prevent them from affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers. Comcast had apparently slowed down or denied the uploads of complete files according to the AP. When questioned for executing such a dubious practice, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas responds with “Comcast does not block access to any applications, including Bit-Torrent” (Svensson). The problem with this response is perhaps the misunderstanding of the “peer-to-peer” technology that Bit-Torrent services employ and how manipulation of a certain aspect can widely affect users in that network. Essentially,
Growing up in a world where the ability to access various kinds of information at the touch of a finger is possible, one can imagine a life fulfilled with numerous opportunities to learn and be entertained. Of course, to many individuals, this is often referred to as the “Internet” and its practicality is often taken for granted. However, that freedom to equally access all public content on the Internet, commonly referred to as net neutrality, has been jeopardized in the hands of Internet service providers over the past few years. Net neutrality is defined in the online Oxford English Dictionary as: “the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the …show more content…
Although the issue of net neutrality has been resolved at the Federal Communications Commissions, whose job is to ensure that telecommunications technologies are operated safely and fairly, with a 3-2 vote in favor of net neutrality (Chappell, “FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For ‘Open Internet’”), the battle seems to have been revived once again with the recent installment of Trump’s …show more content…
One case that has often been referred to as the prime example of a violation of net neutrality principles existed between Bit-Torrent and Comcast. Bit-Torrent is used by many individuals as a file sharing program where one user transfers files to other users over a communications protocol. Comcast, widely known as an American broadcasting and cable television company whose revenue makes it one of the largest in the world, interfered with “some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online” (Svensson, “Comcast blocks some internet traffic”). By throttling Bit-Torrent services and preventing them from taking up too much bandwidth, Comcast states its goal is to prevent them from affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers. Comcast had apparently slowed down or denied the uploads of complete files according to the AP. When questioned for executing such a dubious practice, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas responds with “Comcast does not block access to any applications, including Bit-Torrent” (Svensson). The problem with this response is perhaps the misunderstanding of the “peer-to-peer” technology that Bit-Torrent services employ and how manipulation of a certain aspect can widely affect users in that network. Essentially,