Net Neutrality-Killing Plan Might Kill The Internet Altogether

It is likely that on December 14 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote to repeal the landmark net neutrality rules put in place during Barack Obama's presidential administration. The rules aim at guaranteeing equal access to the internet. That is, making sure that nobody gets preferential treatment to any specific traffic. By classifying broadband as a utility, they prohibit internet service providers from modifying the services they offer based on content. For example, Comcast, AT&T, or Verizon can’t speed up or slow down certain websites or charge extra fees for access to others. 

If you're against dropping the hammer on net neutrality, you will read the New York Times column and probably nod your head as you go through it. On the other hand, if you think that the rules are just some bureaucratic red tape and it's a good step to discard them then, well, most likely you won't like what you see there. But hey! Just step out of your filter bubble and get on with it.

According to the op-ed by the New York Times' columnist Farhad Manjoo, losing net neutrality could diminish competition and turn the internet into a closed-down network where broadband companies call the shots and decide which sites and content succeed. In fact, it could be the final stroke for the open character and the end-to-end principle of network design that have guided the Internet's evolution and development. It could mean that the internet will be growing weaker by the day, "so that one day we are living in a digital world controlled by giants and we come to regard the whole thing as normal". But as Manjoo writes, "the internet doesn’t have to be a corporate playground". In fact, "that’s just the path we’ve chosen".