Net Neutrality

via: Engadget
I came across this the other day, and felt it’s an issue that librarians should be aware of. Libraries and Librarians have always been advocates of intellectual freedom, and the unregulated Internet has provided a medium for free exchange of information (for better or for worse). Net Neutrality is a debate about how much control the Internet Service Providers should have, if any, over the content that they provide through their networks.

Here’s a quote from “Net Neutrality and the FCC: What’s Being Done to Preserve It“

Net neutrality has quickly become a hot-button topic in online tech media (and increasingly in mainstream media) — and for good reason. In an era defined by free information exchange via the wide open, largely unregulated internet, the concept of federal bodies in the United States stepping in on behalf of monied interests and redefining the way users, businesses, and information all interact is a grim and severe issue for the new world economy. On the internet everyone’s presence and business is (and should be) equal; currently protecting that kind of equality is the FCC, some flimsy policy statements, and a smattering of senators who’ve yet to lock anything down. Read on to better understand net neutrality, and why we may not have it in the future.

The results of this debate will ultimately affect how libraries will be able to provide information over the Internet as well. Who woud have ever thought there would even be a need for a campaign to “Save the Internet!”

Save the Internet video

“Humanity Lobotomy”
Net Neutrality Open Source Documentary

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