Net Neutrality Explained and Defended in a Doodle-Filled Video by Vi Hart: The Time to Save the Open Web is Now

By the end of December, net neutrality may be a thing of the past. We’ll pay the price. You’ll pay the price. Comcast, Verizon and AT&T will make out like bandits.

If you need a quick reminder of what net neutrality is, what benefits it brings and what you stand to lose, watch Vi Hart’s 11-minute explainer above. It lays things out quite well. Then, once you have a handle on things, write or call Congress now and make a last stand for the open web.

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Comments (5)
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  • Thissite Isstupid says:

    This is the most ridiculous representation of how products, consumers and business work alike. You should really take this video down, there is no chance a company/employer like UPS or USPS would have a driver refuse to deliver a package based on circumstances of an excess amount of packages ordered and delivered solely from one single company. Your claim and stance is a sad attempt to simplify an obtuse issue, it is merely a misinterpretation of a much more complicated problem you’ve overlooked and slandered immensely.

  • Haha says:

    Nope you’re wrong the video has been ok up on YouTube for ages it’s not made or hosted here

    It’s also called an analogy ups and usps don’t do that they can’t it’s illegal and if they did there would be major outcry and a swap to other services but the equivalent is happening within your internet cables. And you can’t switch because while there’s AT&T and Verizon and Comcast that are each companies “competing” to be web providers there are very few areas where you’re able to choose between them that’s a Comcast area or that’s a Verizon area happens and because no competition well they can practically do what they want to the customer

  • Pocono Chuck says:

    The problem is that the FCC is setting policy that can (and will) vary whenever the officeholder of the POTUS changes.

    Shouldn’t this best be handled in Congress passing legislation?

  • Hanoch says:

    I am not so sure. If broadband providers such as Comcast and Verizon were going to “make out like bandits” without net neutrality rules, why do they expressly support those rules? Here is Comcast on the issue: “We support permanent, strong, legally enforceable net neutrality rules.” And Verizon: “[W]e support rules that prevent providers from intentionally slowing down or throttling Internet traffic based on the traffic’s source, destination or content.” (What the ISPs object to is Title II regulation, but that goes beyond net neutrality.)

    There are those who plausibly suggest that broadband providers support net neutrality regulations because those regulations form a barrier to competition, thereby allowing incumbent broadband providers more, not less, pricing power (government regulation almost always protects market incumbents who are capable of shouldering the regulatory costs, while upstarts cannot). You can read a more detailed counter-argument on the issue of net neutrality here if you are interested: https://fee.org/articles/goodbye-net-neutrality-hello-competition/

  • Gene says:

    This is stupid!

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