Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"We've dropped the net neutrality term around here a few times, but you may not entirely understand what it's all about. Here's a primer on what net neutrality is, how it might affect you, and what you can do about it."

Net neutrality has been big news recently with the FCC voting in new net neutrality rules. But how does it affect you, the consumer? Will you now have to pay more to yourt ISP to access your Netflix movies as well as the cost of the Netflix service as well? Will certain websites be unavailable to you because you've chosen the budget option for your internet connection? If you're not sure how it works or even have questions about what it is, then Lifehacker has a nice article explaining what net neutrality is about, what the new rule changes are and how they may affect you. It's one subject we should all be aware of because it will affect us all in some way in the future, most likely in our pockets.

"The Federal Communications Commission is releasing the details of its new net neutrality Order in stages. Although the FCC's new ban on "unreasonable discrimination" for wired ISPs allows certain kinds of traffic discrimination (not all bits need be equal), the agency made clear after today's meeting that "paid prioritization" deals with Internet companies are unlikely to be allowed."

If you have read any technology related news site for the past few years, you probably have heard of the term "Net Neutrality." It is supposed to be one of the founding concepts of the Internets but everyone appears to have their own concept of what it actually means and what it should mean where applied to our burgeoning digital landscape. It is important to pay attention to what is happening since this can directly affect what services you get on the Internet. Aside from the potential for limiting innovation, it can lead towards favoured services, or even more costly services. And what gets decided in the United States is likely to affect other countries, even if they do not adopt similar policies.

"It's alarmist, over-the-top pro-net-neutrality propaganda, sure, but this chart goes a long way to explaining why the IT dude at the office wears that "All Packets are Created Equal" shirt to work every Thursday: because tiered ISPs are scary."

Net neutrality has been fought over for quite some time now, with both sides firmly entrenched in their ideas. Gizmodo has put up a picture of a theoretical pricing chart of how an ISP could charge for Internet access if net neutrality were to be shot down. The chart does look a lot like the current pricing chart I see from my cable television provider so it definitely has that plausible feeling to it. For me, being pro-net-neutrality, my bigger concern with what is implied in this chart, is that ISPs would start to revert back to the old days of AOL and CompuServe, where ISPs are no longer just pipes to the Internet, but content gateways, nudging you to only use certain websites. The chart is basically an advertisement for only the major companies. This would not only enforce a static Internet, but put new concepts and ideas from upstart companies at a severe disadvantage. Dark days indeed.