Opinion

Press Congress to restore net neutrality

Posted February 20, 2018 12:00 am

Led by Chairman Ajit Pai, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal net neutrality on Dec. 14, 2017. This affects small businesses by creating both slow and fast website loading lanes on the internet. What this means is that small businesses will now have to pay more in order for their websites to load faster. Big businesses can afford this, but small businesses might not be able to.

Because a website loads slowly, it might not get as many internet users. In turn, this might affect this website's growth, product sales or advertising. How are either new blogs or online movie streaming websites going to compete with established players under this ruling?

The FCC's vote also affects both freedom of speech and human rights, because internet service providers can now decide which websites to censor. Online censorship of free speech might put people's lives in danger.

Big companies such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Spectrum lobbied to repeal net neutrality. It just so happens that Pai was once a Verizon lawyer.

The Senate is now only one vote away from overturning the FCC's decision to repeal. In order to defend both fair competition and free speech, our senators and congressman need to vote in favor of restoring net neutrality.

Abrar Qureshi

Willowbrook

Article Comments

Article Categories
Communities Letters to the Editor Opinion Willowbrook

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.