Internet Freedom Day: This Year We Go to War for Net Neutrality

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http://www.wired.com/opinion/2014/01/internet-freedom-day-year-net-neutrality/

Internet Freedom Day: This Year We Go to War for Net Neutrality
By Marvin Ammori
01.18.14
7:00 AM

The loss of net neutrality this week was even bigger than expected.

This time of year is always the worst of times and best of times for internet freedom. Internet activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide on January 4 of last year. Two years ago today, millions took part in the successful 2012 SOPA/PIPA Blackout protest, followed last year by an event many of us celebrated for the first time as “Internet Freedom Day.” (You can read all about Internet Freedom Day here, but basically, we should have at least one special day designated for celebrating one of the most revolutionary technologies the world has ever known.)

And this week, on January 14, the FCC’s network neutrality rule was gutted. So now, the internet freedom issue we need to focus on is network neutrality.

Because with the recent ruling, cable and phone companies like Verizon and AT&T now have the legal right to block any website, webpage, blog, video, web technology, app, cloud sync technology, or anything else running online through their pipes. Put another way, Comcast or Time Warner Cable can now block Netflix, BitTorrent, or even this article. They can choose to provide better service to some entities and not others, letting some websites load very, very slowly and others load instantly (for a fee!).