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Week 5 - Homework
Discussion about Network Neutrality
Network neutrality is a principle proposed for users' access to networks participating in the Internet. The principle advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication. When I was reading about this issue, I found 3 very interesting articles:
Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality by Tim Berners-Lee
FCC makes Net neutrality rules official
Net neutrality fight far from over
Net neutrality is at stake because of two dangers: political and corporate. In some countries it is the local government that blocks access to certain websites to restrict public's access to knowledge and information the political system sees as threatening. On the other hand, in democratic countries corporations want to gain control of public's access of online information by paying ISPs (Internet Service Providers) to completely block certain websites or search results that are currently available to everyone, thus guiding their unsuspecting customers to limited or based results that are tailor-made by whoever pays for it. Net neutrality is a form of personal freedom and we should protect it against all of its opponents.