Neutralizing, the Net

NET NEUTRALITY

The Internet, WWW, Web, World Wide Web, computer network, data bank, data network, electronic highway, electronic mail, email, global village, information superhighway, information technology, online community, virtual community, virtual library, virtual reality. There is a mass amount of information flying around, and who’s to say that it is ours? And whether or not, it is here to stay.

The World Wide Web’s battlefield includes these main contenders: you, oh and those Internet dudes. The struggle to prevent net neutrality, the ability we have to control our web, will never come to a settlement, while certain problems are still on the battleground. Piracy, political information and copyright are some of the featured problems at this time. It is becoming harder and harder to define the term public, and easier to break the barrier of private. On one side we have the consumers, creating more and more obstacles to contain their private environment, and access others. On the other we have “them”, these are those who will do just about anything to stop us from owning our own web information. Why? You must be asking that question. Why would they want to prevent us from being our digital selves? Well, that’s simple. They want you to pay for your Internet, not to expand, but limit your access to the World Wide Web. Corporations want to be in complete control of your digital environment, or for some, your digital lives. Lawrence Lessig, the Internet enthusiast once said, “As the Internet integrated into ordinary life, it has changed things. Some of these changes are technical-The Internet has made communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so on” (Lessig 7). I disagree with this. We pay less for what we get, right now. But soon, will you settle with the fact that you will give more than you get? And as for our lives, as Lessig says, are they really all that “ordinary”?

Works Cited

InternetSecure. Web. 18 Nov. 2009. .

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture The Nature and Future of Creativity. New York: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005. Print.