PSA: The End Of The Internet As You Know It.

[Currently Listening To: The Radio Dept - Pet Grief]


Once again, I've gone way too long without updating this blog. I've been busy with new work projects, and also decompressing after a long time away from home.

Anyway, I'm updating today to help spread the word about something that is going to affect all of us very soon. I really hate to get preachy, but this is important. I've been reading about it in various places around the internet for a while now, but it's really starting to show up a lot, and people need to be informed about it.

Basically, the internet as we know it is in jeopardy. What makes the internet so revolutionary is that it levels the playing field - everyone has an equal chance to create something important, or to make money, or to have their views heard. This is the only form of media with such freedom and possibility, but it may be coming to an end.

To explain it briefly: In a country controlled by corporate empires, nothing happens by chance. When you turn on MTV and see the same three shitty hip-hop videos played over and over again, it isn't because MTV thought the music was good. It's because the big record labels have paid MTV to feature their artists. When you go to the book store, the books featured in the window aren't there because they're good books - they're there because a publishing company paid for preferred shelf space. It's not about a quality product, it's about the biggest marketing budget. This system occurs almost everywhere, from movie theatres to grocery stores, and it keeps big companies in control of distribution, and makes it hard for the average person to accomplish anything unless they go through the corporate middleman. The internet effectively removes that middle man, and evens the odds for everyone. It has a lot of companies - record labels, for example - terrified because their traditional means of controlling the marketplace are no longer applicable.

So now, the big telecommunications companies - the ones who provide you with high-speed internet access - are lobbying for the removal of a rule known as Network Neutrality, which ensures that communications providers give the same quality of service to all of their customers - it's the reason you can't pay more for better phone service. With Network Neutrality gone, companies like AT&T would be free to choose which websites run better than others on your internet connection, based - of course - on which companies pay them more. It would set up a tiered internet where bandwidth is allocated based on who can afford it. Big company websites would run fast and smooth, because they paid for it. Meanwhile, the rest of the internet is left with the junk bandwidth, causing small, non-profit sites like blogs or Wikipedia or yes - GASP! - even Population Paste, to slow to a crawl.

There are a lot of theories about where this is ultimately going - including an interesting idea that what it's really about is censorship and government control, and even that Rupert Murdoch's ever-growing MySpace empire is a trojan horse for the new controlled-access internet. Some of this might be a little far-fetched (or maybe not), but the guaranteed end result of Network Neutrality's removal is that all of us will be paying a lot more for all of the online services we currently enjoy for free.

For a more detailed article about the situation, go here. If you'd like to help do something about it, the best thing is to spread the word. This whole movement is happening largely under the nose of the general public because no one would ever support it. The only people who want this to happen are the telecommunications companies and the politicians they pay to ensure the laws fall on their side. So post about this on your blogs, or your LiveJournals, or your MySpace or whatever. Learn more about it, tell everyone you know. If this issue gets into the spotlight a bit more, it will put pressure on lawmakers to stop it from happening.

At the end of the day I'm not much of an activist, but the internet is a huge part of my life and I'd like to know I did some small part to help prevent it from being destroyed by greed. You can sign a petition that will go to congress - I know petitions usually don't mean much, but it certainly can't hurt.

And really, I promise I'll write a non-preachy update in the next few days. I genuinely apologize for for making you think for a few minutes - please get back to watching mindless videos on YouTube and refreshing your MySpace to see if anyone left you a comment.