Dear John,
Two years ago this Saturday, the Trump Administration proposed a rule that would break the internet as we know it. It was a giveaway and a scam, perpetrated by our own government to benefit of some of the biggest companies in the world.
Here’s what happened.
As long as you or I have used the internet, we’ve operated under a basic rule: you pay Verizon or Charter or whoever your internet company is a fixed fee per month, and you can access the whole internet. This rule is called net neutrality.
They can’t upcharge you to visit more popular sites, block sites they don’t agree with, or cut backroom deals with rich websites to slow you down when you visit their competitors. Just imagine if Fox News could pay to slow down CNN.com. Or, if Verizon could block emails they don’t like--like this one.
But there was money to be made by changing those rules--money to be made by big telecommunications companies, in particular, who wanted to upcharge you, to segment the internet into little pieces, and make you pay more every step of the way. It’s a fancy way to make you pay more for what you’re getting now.
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