Net neutrality is a relatively new term that has been thrown around a lot in the past few years. Free Press' Save the Internet blog has the best rundown of what exactly net neutrality is and what is happening with it.
In a quick summation, net neutrality stops big corporations like Verizon and Google from creating fast lanes and slow lanes for Internet content. Big names with lots of money can pay their way into fast lanes, while content creators that can't pay up or don't fit with the big owners' status quo get stuck in slow lanes.
In 2010, the FCC passed a rule that allowed them to enforce net neutrality. But then in January of this year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's rule and opened up the Internet's infrastructure to corporations.
So what happens if Verizon decides to implement its once-proposed two lane system? Independent media get left behind.
The Internet brought with it an astounding surge in everything independent. Musicians can distribute music easily without the cost of CD production. Photographers and filmers can post their work cheaply (or free) to be seen by anyone. Journalists can start their own independent publications and write without restrictions set upon them by the massive corporations that pay their salary.
But if we let those big corporations take control of the Internet, independent creation will be stifled significantly.
Striking down net neutrality goes against the foundations of the First Amendment. For the success of independent producers, whether they be musicians, painters, bloggers, poets, game designers or jewelry makers, net neutrality needs to be reinstated.
As I have said before, journalism needs a constant flow of new independent journalists to keep a real check on the government and corporations. A corporate Internet goes against this completely.
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