Just a reminder, every coin has 2 sides...
And BOTH of them can be tarnished.
[Disclosure... I'm hearing impaired, therefore I dislike Netflix. I have tried to make sure that bias did not effect what I've written below, but in case I failed, now you know. I genuinely have no bias for/against Net Neutrality.]
Very few organizations or businesses or politicians or government agencies care the least about your personal best interests. Netflix does not care one whit about you, as long as your payment comes on time -- if you don't subscribe they care even less. So why is it fighting for Net Neutrality? How many on-line retailers would love free shipping services, like a UPS or Fedex that worked totally for free?
Netflix is one of the supporters for the Internet Slowdown, & they're a big supporter of Net Neutrality. They don't want to have to pay to use internet pipes that other companies own, even though they often are responsible for most of the traffic over many of those pipes. If/when they have to pay for using those pipes that cost reduces their profits -- when they can use those pipes for free their profits increase. End of story.
On the flip side you have businesses like telcos & cable companies that are almost universally known for greed along with horrible customer service. Practically speaking whomever controls the cables or wires to your door has a gun to your head. There is no 2nd or 3rd cable running next to it, allowing you any choice.
While it sounds logical to charge people & businesses to use the cables they own, what they don't tell you is that they spend less than the bare minimum maintaining both their cables & their equipment. They spend less, charge more, then throttle throughput because their old infrastructure can't handle the load, and in many cases it's getting worse as that infrastructure continues to age.
OK, so "there ought to be a law". Problem with that is the reason there's only one cable to your door -- no choice -- is the politicians you expect to write your new law. One of the huge US telcos had to give up on their project of running new fiber optics -- politicians from Washington DC to the tiniest townships all had hands out.
If there is a new Net Neutrality law, companies & individuals with the most money to spend will spend it influencing -- if not writing & controlling -- how that new law's written so it's in their favor.
You can have the gov control the pipes & cables etc., having the public own them, like the roads we drive on. Compared to most toll roads, those public roads we drive on are much more expensive to construct & maintain, & are extremely often in need of repair because of corruption & huge amounts of inefficiency.
Bottom line... True Net Neutrality would be a good thing for you and yours. If your country has the revenues, say from the sales of natural resources, so any corruption & inefficiencies don't effect your income, having the country own & maintain the Internet pipes is a good thing.
Most anyone telling you that they're looking out for your interests expects to be paid. When that money changes hands in the open, say when you pay your plumber or lawyer, you at least know what's going on. When you don't hand over your cash you have no idea who is paying the bills, but rest assured, someone is paying them.
If you want, check out the organizations listed on battleforthenet.com/sept10th/ . Then check out who's paying their bills. Follow the money as far as you want or can. Maybe you agree with the goals of some or all of the supporters, maybe you disagree -- it's not my place to say -- but that's maybe one of the best ways to figure out who wants what when they tell you this Net Neutrality push is for you. No offense, but No One is doing this because they think that you're a wonderful person deserving better [even though you are :) ]. Please remember that Any grass roots effort can be subverted, sometimes even created with that subversion in mind -- good people can be a part of a bad effort, & vice versa.
IMHO -- and this is just my personal opinion... If you want to support the Internet Slowdown because it boosts your self-esteem, go for it. If you support it to be part of the crowd, *maybe* you should rethink some things. If you're strongly, genuinely for or against the Internet Slowdown effort, I hope you've done your research so you won't be disappointed with whichever side you took. My only goal, the point I would make, is that it can be useful to know who poured the Kool-Aid before you think about taking a sip. ;)
