Net neutrality means no restrictions. Internet users are free to access anything on the Internet and use it as frequently as they please. Net Neutrality is being threatened. Big companies want to start charging users more for certain things and restrict how much we can see online. The Internet is huge, and presents us with so many opportunities. We can connect with old friends, get our name out there, purchase and sell items, express our opinions, support causes and organizations and so much more. With companies trying to put restrictions on what we can see and do online, people will not have these great opportunities like they do now.
Net neutrality allows anyone, no matter how wealthy or poor you are, to view all content on the Internet. Without net neutrality there will begin to be a divide between the different economic classes. Is this fair? Just because someone may be wealthier, only they will get to experience all the wonders of the Internet, but someone of lower class will not? Everyone should be able to experience the Internet at its finest, which is why net neutrality must stay.
Take photography for example, some of the most beautiful and intriguing photography does not follow any sort of rule or guidelines and that is what makes it interesting. “But though we could imagine this system of permission, it would be very hard to see how photography could have flourished as it did if the requirement for permission had been built into the rules that govern it” (Lessig 25) In Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig describes that if photography were to have requirements it would not be what it is today. This directly relates back to net neutrality. Putting restrictions on something so big can only decrease its overall use and value. The Internet should be left alone, and companies should not even attempt at charging more for it. The Internet connects us all, not just the wealthy.
“The Internet has made communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so on. These technical changes are not the focus of this book. They are important. They are not well understood. But they are the sort of thing that would simply go away if we all just switched the Internet off” (Lessig 7) Do we really want this to happen? Do we really want to see what it would be like to have the Internet just "switched off"? I do not think so. The Internet has proved to be a wonderful invention, connecting people around the globe. It can be used for such a large quantity of different things, and to put restrictions on it now would just be decreasing its full potential.
The Internet is our playground; we should all be able to use it as we please.
Works Cited
"The Cause." We Are The Web. 2006. wearetheweb.org, Web. 23 Nov 2009.
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