5 Reasons to Worry About the Net Neutrality Repeal
5 Reasons to Worry About the Net Neutrality Repeal
Why Net Neutrality Matters For Your Small Business.
For as long as the internet has been around it has remained neutral, meaning that everyone has free access to all parts of the internet. Although there are parts of the internet that can't be accessed without a password, most of it can be accessed. For free. This blog by the Washington Post made a beautiful analogy about the internet being a highway and net neutrality was basically a highway without tolls. Repealing net neutrality would mean adding tolls to the internet highway and essentially slowing down the lanes without tolls. The toll monitors would be internet companies like Verizon or Comcast and the cars would be websites trying to pass through. What does this mean for your small business and your website? A lot.
1. It Can Slow Your Website Down
When the control is put in the internet provider's hands, it's open season for all websites. While Facebook, Google and Apple will hardly face any issues with their websites slowing down, smaller named companies might have a different fate. This will affect companies Google rankings greatly, as website speed is a huge factor in ranking highly in Google.
2. It Can Block Your Website
You heard me right. They can block your website; if internet or service providers find that their websites are competing with other small businesses, they will be given the power to block websites. This means that providers will be given free reign to create their own version of the internet, which ultimately means new guidelines for everyone to follow based on their internet provider.
3. It Gets Political
While of course Trump's administration had something to do with the FCC ruling, by Ajit Pai, conservative news websites like Newsmax, has personally asked the FCC to not block any content from their website of affiliates. It's also no secret that the conservative party doesn't have much to lose because it was Trump's pick, but on the other hand, a study done by the University of Maryland showed that 75% of republicans asked to not repeal net neutrality.
4. New Ideas May Become Obsolete
The reason why the internet is so useful is because of all the new ideas and information that can reach people all across the globe. With only a few select websites that would be in the fast lane, that would mean more and more independent websites would have to fight to get their ideas out there. Control over the internet means control over what people are thinking at the end of the day.
5. It Would Be Pay for Play
While companies like Facebook are already pay for play for most small businesses, it would be even more of a struggle for small businesses to play ball with service providers. This would be shutting out what is good for our economy, and providing big corporations with more access and resources to ultimately control what we see on the net. This is not fair, and it shouldn't be fair to you either.
What Can I Do?
You can still tell Congress to overturn the ruling and you could donate to the ACLU which would actively help the fight against the repeal of net neutrality. If you want to do more or want to find out how to write to your representatives, read this blog. The fight is not over. For more of a visual overview of how net neutrality affects you watch the video below. For more updates on net neutrality follow me on Twitter and on Facebook.