Net Neutrality has been the central focus of political hotbed talk over the past few years regarding the speeds of data transferred over the web. According to Media Now Understanding Media Culture and Technology, the author states, “Net neutrality means users are not discriminated against based on the amount or nature of the data they transfer on the Internet”(Straubaar, Larose and Davenport 11). On the surface, this sounds like a promising ideology, but history does indicate when the government gets over involved in the corporate field that the legalistic waters get murky along with unnecessary red tape which ultimately clogs the free enterprise business model.
To start, net neutrality generally speaking, was put in place with the intention to put a halt to internet service providers slowing or throttling speeds of the consumer. Over the years a number of companies have been accused, and found guilty of this throttling practice. For example, a 2007 Washington Post article opens by stating, “Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally”(Svensson). As technology has advanced via the internet to social media and streaming content, we have seen arguments, accusations, and guilty companies slowing speeds of the consumer with the intent of maximizing their profits by wanting to keep their networks “clear” for more users. It should be noted that largely though, media companies toed a fine line when throttling because the isp market was relatively open, and competition kept this in check. The internet has survived the dotcom era, the search engine wave, and is just now reaching the peak of the social media era. Companies like AOL, Myspace, and Yahoo are for the most part internet fossils now, but the free capitalistic market is what really decided their fate. The same should happen with Net Neutrality via the consumer.
In closing, the infancy of the app market was the genesis of a brand new door for small private companies to make money. This will be the model for the internet going forward over the next few years and companies will go where the money is. It was this app market boom that gave way for in app transactions, and the option to purchase advertising free versions of apps. Today, in app transactions are crowd favorites across the video game market which is predominantly the essence of being considered popular in these online communities. Net neutrality should largely cease to be a topic of conversation because the free market will control any hiccups along the way just as the app market has evolved over the past decade. Consumers pick and choose where to go, and what apps they use while new start ups are always entering into the competition to essentially steal customers away. Let’s keep the competition going.
Works Cited
Straubaar, Joseph, obert Larose and Lucinda Davenport. Media Now, Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology. Boston,MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2012.
Svensson, Peter. Comcast Blocks Some Internet Traffic. 19 October 2007. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/19/AR2007101900842.html?noredirect=on.
