The internet can be considered man’s greatest invention since the wheel as it has shrunk the world we move in, revolutionized how we do things, and influenced our perspective on many different aspects of our lives.
All these happened because information can flow freely – without control and discrimination – in the World Wide Web. We all benefit from this set up and have embraced it as the norm. This gave birth to the concept of Network Neutrality, which says that Internet access providers should not discriminate with regard to what applications an individual can use, or the content an individual can upload, download, or interacted with over the network.1
As the internet technology advances, however, its use has also become complicated and has become a burden to some who depend so much on it for much more important things than downloading games, updating social network accounts, or watching videos of some wanna-be stars. The so-called bandwidth hogs – such as YouTube, Facebook, and file-sharing sites – lord it over in cyberspace to the detriment of other useful internet applications and features.
Hence, Network Neutrality is under attack. Does it still really provide an incentive to internet users?
The advent of Web 2.0 has changed the landscape of internet use. Network Neutrality is well-suited in the world before that - when the internet is simply all clicking and browsing. Our standards have to change when the environment has changed.
Network Neutrality curtails the freedom to choose. It promotes a free-for-all world that is vulnerable to chaos and abuse. It is a pseudo-standard that serves the purpose of the internet but defeats the intention of the users.
As in real life, there is no such thing as free lunch in the cyber world. We pay for internet services – so we should get our money’s worth.
1 http://www.cybertelecom.org/ci/neutral.htm
