I’ll be part of a group meeting with Senator Susan Collins on Thursday to talk about Net Neutrality and how we need the government to reinstate this basic premise of the Internet.
This has become a highly divisive issue recently, with the telcoms and cable providers on one side (Verizon, TimeWarner,) saying they need the ability to create a tiered Internet where businesses could pay more to get their content delivered faster.
On the other side are content providers (Google, Amazon,) and groups like Common Cause that feel it’s important to keep the Internet as a level playing field.
I find myself firmly on the side of net neutrality’s defenders. Although I understand that giant video files are beginning to clog network pipes, allowing a tiered system for the Internet goes against some of the basic premises of the Internet and harms small businesses in the process.
What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality is the idea that all content sent over the Internet (in this case) should be treated equally.
Why is Net Neutrality important to small businesses?
The Internet has been an amazing tool for small businesses, and I’m not talking about Silicon Valley startups that sell out to Google or Yahoo for a billion dollars.
Small businesses, many based here in Maine, have the same opportunity of reaching prospects and clients as giant companies do, if they know how to leverage their Web site and Internet marketing.
What the telcom’s would like to do is offer tiered service: businesses could pay to become partners of Verizon or AT&T and have their content get preferential treatment. Their content would be delivered faster than that of their rivals. Consumers wouldn’t really know why a competitor’s site was taking for ever to download, but they wouldn’t care. They’d just move on to another site.
Every day I do searches at Google. If a site on the results page takes more than a few seconds to come up, I often choose the next result. I’m guessing you’ve done that a few times yourself.
Well, imagine if the reason why that site is taking so long to download is because they couldn’t afford or refused to pay an additional fee to the telcoms? They may have a better product, or a better service, but they’ve been boxed out by the duopoly that is held by the telcoms and cable providers.
Although many opponents of Net Neutrality claim that we don’t need any more government regulation, it was actually recent regulation that CHANGED the laws.
Net neutrality is critical to Maine businesses. We need to keep the playing field level so that businesses can succeed or fail based on the quality of their products and services.
We live in an incredibly exciting time right now, with the Internet as a major disruptor of the way things used to be. Eliminating Net Neutrality will have a negative impact on businesses, freedom of expression and marketplace competition.
Examples of how a lack of Net Neutrality have stymied businesses outside of America are on display in this article from Inc. magazine called One Internet, Indivisible.
If you’d like to learn more about Net Neutrality be sure to check out Maine Internet Freedom’s blog.
