Net Neutrality
Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you’re a person who spends a good amount of time on the internet consuming media. If that’s the case, you’re probably someone who prefers when their streamable content is easily accessible and doesn’t lag or cost you any extra to access. Take Netflix, for example. Their services have been known to provide high-quality streams for their viewers. In fact, these internet statistics and data trends suggest that since Netflix first started offering online services, their subscribers have grown every year. That’s amazing, and it just goes to show that they’re doing something right, as otherwise, people wouldn’t go back. With that being said, having bad quality internet that results in lag is never something that’s desirable. However, if you’re living somewhere rural, slow internet is somewhat an expectation. Despite this, many companies like Phoenix Internet are now coming forward to provide AZ apartment internet for rural areas and in places where it’s never been offered before. Hopefully, this will mean that more people get to access the internet from their homes and businesses. When choosing a broadband provider, it’s important to look out for some important things, such as download speeds and add-ons. There are more things to look out for too, people can learn more here if they’d like to. That way, they’ll be able to filter through current broadband offers to make sure they find the best one for them. Internet is important, so make sure to find a good provider. Truth be told, we simply could not run this site if our contributors couldn’t access Netflix, Spotify, Bandcamp and any other number of internet platforms for consuming media. As a no-profit enterprise that is entirely ad-free, we couldn’t afford to pay for our contributors to access these websites if they suddenly became more expensive to access beyond their regular membership prices.
Unfortunately, internet service providers (Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast, specifically) are currently attempting to collude with FCC Chairman/former Verizon attorney Ajit Pai to do exactly that: make it more expensive and more difficult to access the streaming platforms we all enjoy. Essentially, internet service providers want to be able to slow access to certain websites to crawl in order to charge both the companies that provide that content and you the consumer for accessing those sites. It would mean that only the mega-companies that can afford to pay huge sums of money could remain fast and reliable, while smaller websites (such as Crossfader) would be achingly slow. This has been an ongoing battle for years, but the Trump administration has been particularly willful in rolling back all regulations if it means a special interest can profit, which is exactly the case here. It’s not just that using the internet could become much more cost prohibitive; internet service providers could also choose to block certain websites because they’re critical of the service providers themselves, an obvious form of censorship. To put it bluntly, if the reversal of these regulations goes through, you really could see the internet you know and love go up in smoke very quickly.
If you want to know more about this, John Oliver did a great job explaining it a couple months ago, but really you need to go to this website. From that website, you’ll find a lot of things you can do today to make yourself heard and to defend your right to use the internet relatively freely. If you’re a fan of consuming media, you should be a fan of protecting everyone’s right to do so equally. Please take a few minutes to find out what you can do by following the link above.
Carter Moon
Carter Moon grew up in the desolate Evangelic capital of the world and responded by developing a taste in counter culture, which eventually bloomed into a love for filmmaking and screenwriting. Carter has average opinions on most things, but will defend them adamantly and loudly until no one else wants to bother speaking up. He runs Crossfader's podcast, IN THE CROSSHAIRS.
