The US Congress today failed to support a vote to enshrine net neutrality into law. Why does this matter to me you may well ask? well think about it this way, who owns the trans-pacific cables? If I visit a page hosted in the states, how does it get there? it’s got to go via the gateways of the big US Telcos, so any attempt to mess with page speeds in the States doesn’t just affect Australia, it affects the entire world. Not only that, this sets a dangerous precedent for other countries to follow: imagine Telstra implementing a similar scheme, we’d not only be bound by Telstra playing gatekeeper, but most likely AT&T as well, a double gateway in which only the rich can benefit, and start ups, like my own b5media stand to lose. The internet as a level playing field is what has made it the wonderful place that it is. Thanks to the US Republican Party, the days of the internet being free for all is soon going to end. Thanks America….f*ck you.
Tags: net neutrality
