Net Neutrality: The battle is just beginning

Seeing that you are on steemit you probably care about net neutrality. If you have been living under a rock for the past couple months i'll give a quick summary. In a nutshell, net neutrality is what gives everyone equal access to the internet without ISPs (internet service providers) playing favorites and giving certain customers or websites a faster connection. This was all regulated by the FCC but now the FCC has repealed net neutrality giving the power to ISPs like Verizon, AT&T and everyones favorite, Comcast. If the repeal of net neutrality is not stopped, then they will have the power to regulate your internet access.

If that doesn't scare you then let me open your eyes to the situation. Say you want to get on Reddit. You type in reddit.com to your address bar but instead of the front page of the internet you are greeted with a webpage from your ISP. The reason is because you have not bought the social media package which lets you get on websites like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and steemit. The same goes for services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Video. Want to watch the new season of Game of Thrones? On top of that HBO subscription you'll need to pay for the video streaming package. Sounds dumb right?

The scariest thing has yet to come. Without net neutrality ISPs can slow down or speed up the connection depending on the service and how much the customer has paid. On surface level this just seems like a scummy move by ISPs but if we look deeper there is something really troubling about this.

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Lets say the Washington Post writes an article on their website that reveals the NSA is using facial recognition on phones to build a database. Now the NSA probably does not want the public to know this. They could pay ISPs to block that webpage or completely block the Washington Post's website from paying customers. Without net neutrality, this is completely legal. If this does not scare you then please, get off the internet right now.

Things like the NSA spying on Americans and the repeal of net neutrality all lead to the same thing. Another step closer to living a real life 1984. There most likely will never be the one big thing that pushes us to this point but rather than many smaller things adding up over time. The public ignores them or doesn't understand the magnitude of the situation and next thing we know Orwell's book is our reality.

Please, I urge you to care about this.