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A country with perfect net neutrality laws would be very difficult to image at this point and time because there seems to be so much resistance against finding the perfect solution. A country with working net neutrality laws, I would image has a very compromise-able government that is able see the situation from all sides. There are several solutions to the net neutrality issue and although that may seem like a plus, its actually a negative. Many of these solutions generally serve the interest of 1 party. Therefore any country that can produce a sensible solution for all parties involved has to be rare. 

I’d like to think one of the solutions that this ideal country could’ve come up with is to simply leave the pace of the internet right where it is. Why is there a need for control in the first place? Yes, there are definitely same aspects of the internet that could use extra restriction, but that is something that can be guarded privately. Another reason that I feel like this ideal country might exist is because their citizens actually voted to elect leaders that saw their vision. In turn that leader made a decision that would benefit the people in the most effective way. Of course, this country probably had push back from some citizens, but great countries are able to find solutions that will fit all. The citizens in this country stood up and helped to create the change that they wanted to see. Laws and decisions worth being made, start there, with the people who benefit the most from the change. 

 In conclusion, this blog is about describing the ideal country that has somehow figured out the conundrum that is net neutrality. I believe that change could never and would never be possible without people who are willing to vote and elected officials who are actually willing to hear the needs of the people. 

Net neutrality is something that majority of our nation cherishes whether they know it or not. Most people use internet in their everyday life. I said that to say, why isn’t there more of an uproar in response to the threat against net neutrality? The government has made some changes to try and combat the eradication of  net neutrality, but not very many branches of government has actually taken a stand. And why is that? Why is there both limited attention and action on something that should concern us all? And more importantly why is there resistance from the government? There has to be a

underlying reason as to why the government is not particularly interested in solving this problem. Although we may never know, we all have our theories. Govern meant has tried to control the media since the beginning of time and I for one believe this is another extension of that control. Having control over net neutrality ultimately gives you control of media. “The eventual printing of the federalist papers, fueled the argument that the press was vital to American democracy. It was also clear the press had the ability to affect public opinion and therefore public policy”. (American government 2e chapter 8.3). The above statement is an example of just how powerful the press is, and how it affects their policies. Press almost relies solely on the internet to be able to get their messages and programming to the people. If that access to the people is disturbed then their will be a snowball effect of negativity. Of course the plan is not to completely get rid of the internet, but to control it monetarily. Paying more for internet access may limit peoples ability to maintain it, which means less people are using the internet and if less people are using the internet then we will be more uninformed than ever. Im not going to say that that the government is completely resistant, but theres so much more that can be done. “Attorneys general from 22 states filed a protective petition for review against the FCC in the U.S. court of appeals for the district of Columbia.” ( www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/net-neutrality-2019-legislation.aspx ). This is an example that the government has made a few moves to combat the issue, but these states had to individually file petitions, when there should have been an action put in place to cover all states in the protection against dismissing net neutrality. There is no real answer for why the government has not completely solved the net neutrality issue, but my theory is that the government would like to have more control over media and press, therefore its not a priority for them.

 Net neutrality is what gives us our freedom to use the internet as we choose. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing for many reasons. Of course the internet is not always used for good, so yes, I do believe in monitoring the internet to some degree but not to the extent that it is completely controlled by a higher power. The FCC has made many changes over the years to the ways we use the internet, and until now those changes have been easily adaptable. This generation is not against making changes, but eradicating net neutrality takes away a significant amount of creativity and social interaction. There was a huge response from the younger generation in regards to taking away net neutrality and ultimately I am grateful for that because it gave the higher powers an insight as to how people really feel about taking the free range internet away.

The graphic I have to the left depicts what the future could look like for us financially without net neutrality. Yes, people already pay for individual services from streaming networks, but we choose which services we would like to pay and we can cancel at any time. Without net neutrality, we don’t have the option to explore our favorite apps for free and cancel at our own free will. Of course you wouldn’t have to buy the packages, but if your business relies on social media and heavy marketing, without certain apps, your business will lose traction and you will not gain new customers at the same rate. Yes, society could benefit from not being so attached to our devices and social media, but at the same time we can not deny all the ways that social media has helped this country develop. Internet and social media basically go hand in hand at this point and with net neutrality social media will only be available for those that can afford it. I don’t believe that discarding net neutrality is the worst concept, but it is greatly inconveniencing to majority of people. It would most definitely decrease productivity and social interaction.

Destroying net neutrality is not a foreign concept, it is an idea that has been in the works for decades. The popularity of the internet and social media has kept that idea at bay for quite sometime. There have been so much interaction with the internet over the years that there has been resistance on wether or not to ruffle the public’s feathers and introduce the idea of completely monetizing it. The internet is used in so many ways that is impossible to measure just how much it will be effected if we were to tamper with the algorithm. The only people that may have less resistance to this new concept are people who can easily afford it. People of all incomes should be available to have access.