A new spin on net neutrality?
Net neutrality has been quite the big story lately, and rightly so. It is a matter that touches on some very important aspects of the daily lives of the American People, namely the Internet, and rights pertaining to usage of data.
I'm going to go through a deep explanation here, and I REALLY hope you guys can read all the way through, and take this for what its worth.
Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. That is the definition given straight from Google.
Some of the implications of repealing Net Neutrality include ISP's serving packages of approved "specialized" content at a premium, or using their position as a information gateway to pick and choose which information is widely or easily available, or limiting competing DMC (Digital Media Content) provider's bandwidth, making users more adept to using switching subscriptions over to packages offered by the ISP at faster speeds, not to mention opening doors for our personal browsing data to be used and managed in interesting, frightening new ways, sold off to whoever, foreign countries, or even including our own government agencies, with little, or no restriction.
Im going to concede to the fact that net neutrality has already been repealed within the FCC, at a FEDERAL level, but I am writing this with hopes that I can show those who feel defeated that this can actually be a great chance of a turn-around for us if we understand what has actually occurred. so we are going to break down a few ideas that will hopefully outline my viewpoints so that those who read this might see where I'm coming from, and will use this chance to push our local officials to act to our benefit, for our protection.
Observance: I will not talk about Trump at all here, other than to mention a trend that surely we all have noticed. Under the Trump administration, regulations have decreased almost across the board. Most, including me at times, view this as a bad thing, that will only benefit those rich individuals and corporations, but I am choosing to see the best of what I can, where I can. Sometimes less regulation means smaller government. In this instance I see an incredible opportunity for our State Officials to step up to the plate and regulate at a State level, which can more directly relate and communicate with the constituents they were elected to protect, creating direct accountability. Regulating some sort of "Open Net Standard" at a State level could potentially have the opposite affect on the major ISP's than people are currently expecting, as the situation is being presented to them.
Without Federal regulations in place, States are able to individually enact policy that protects their local residents, and regulates ISP activity within their jurisdiction, presumably in a much more efficient manner, without the need for any bipartisan agreement that may, or may not ever be reached reasonably without sacrificing elements of a bill just to satisfy someone's financial backers. Bills go months, and even years, without being passed sometimes, because of the constant bickering and childishness going on within the US congress, and Senate, from Democrats AND Republicans.. while #WeThePeople are expected to sit idly and wait for results that may never come as we expect them.
When I watch C-Span etc. etc. all I see is a constant grudge match of Tug-O-War between the two parties, with only enough progress to scrap by.
I don't identify with any particular political party, I identify with my own morals, and the commo-law agreed upon by the people. With that said I am Anti-Big Government, I feel that government should remain as a utility used only in necessary situations, but not as an all-inclusive decision maker for a FREE people. To support this idea, I'd like to clarify something that I don't think many people have a solid understanding of, and that is the relationship a State(ex New York) has with the Fed(ex UNITED STATES) known as cooperative federalism.
This notion of cooperative federalism was written that, The Federal government would "overlay" State governments, with each entitled to VERY specific jurisdictions, allowing them to operate together, while the states still retained their sovereignty, still legally separate from any other state, but able to discuss, enact, and enforce policy on varying levels, according to jurisdiction, to tackle issues from the city hall level, all the way to the international stage collectively.
A State can be considered many things, State can be defined synonymously with Nation or Country, as an organized political community under one government.
I like to compare the United states of america to the United Nations, in the sense that, the UN is just a compact, or coalition formed by the agreement of numerous states/nations of certain common principles, and to protect each other should they be attacked, increasing their odds of survival. Though they are a part of the UN doesn't mean they no longer have dominion of their own territory.
The United States of America is Exactly that! A group of independent States which agreed to a contract, that they would afford certain rights equally across each of their territories and create a council of representatives of each Nation\State to ensure protection of the interests of the people respectively. The State did not give up their right to their own state-sovereignty, merely reaching a common consensus that these things should be guaranteed to free people, and to protect each other from the English rule and other potential threats, etc. etc
In cooperative federalism the States are responsible for the daily proceedings, and the lives of each of their own citizens internally, while the federal government exercises power derived from the States, to represent the Republic the formed OUTWARDLY, enacting policies that represent and protect the American Ideology to the world stage. THAT is the TRUE responsibility of the Fed.
The fact that #NetNeutrality has been repealed just means Officials at a State level have that much more work to do to protect their constituents, but now they have the ability to do so in ways that weren't possible before, hopefully creating movement in the markets, and combating against corporate overreach aggressively.
Now That its gone, EVERYONE needs to be on the phone with their local reps, informing them that you expect them to perform, that you expect progress on a state level, this doesn't NEED to be regulated by the Feds, THIS has actually put power BACK in their hands! Tell them to USE IT!
A country can only be free because its people are, not the other way around!
Thanks for reading all the way through! I hope someone found it interesting! Leave comments and thoughts if you wish.