Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

Pros and Cons:
There are many pros and cons to net neutrality and depending who you are or who you work for you might have different views on net neutrality. Some people are opposed to it because it slows down internet connection with anyone being able to access anything. Also the big corporations who are providing these internet services want to make money from people expanding their bandwidth. Many people are in support of it because it allows anyone to access anything with no restrictions and provokes exploration.
Pros:
-Anyone can view anything online without paying extra
-Everyone receives everything at the same speed even if it is not a popular site
-It encourages people to explore different things and provokes new ideas
-No material is blocked from anyone so everything possible is viewable
Cons:
-Videos take up a lot of bandwidth so companies are getting charged more (if you work for company might effect you personally as well)
-Allows people to see material that they may be better off without seeing (keeps children from inappropriate sites)
-With everyone having the ability to access everything it might slow down more popular sites that many people are on at a time.

Why has net neutrality been in the news recently?:
Net neutrality has been a popular discussion recently. This is because the phone companies who are controlling online networks are being charged more because they need more bandwidth to hold all the videos and messages and everything else people are using the network for and therefore being charged more. They tried proposing a bill that would make it so these corporations could charge for certain websites or programs making a guarantee that there wouldn't be an issue with speed but the consumer would have to pay for it. This would in turn make the less popular sites slower and make it beneficial for the consumer to pay the extra for the extra benefit. This bill was not passed but if it were it would limit many people from the freedom they currently have on the internet.

Net neutrality tied to freedom of speech:
Net neutrality is tied to freedom of speech because it allows anyone to put anything online and lets them express their ideas with no restrictions. With net neutrality anyone can post anything on the internet and have anyone with access to the internet view what they post. Freedom to share their ideas and speak their mind. If net neutrality were to be banned this would somewhat restrict freedom of speech and there would be much debate on this taking away a persons right to freedom of speech.

How would this recent news affect me?:
I think if the idea of net neutrality were to be banned it would affect me pretty seriously. It wouldn't take away from anything I NEED to view online but I know I like to go on youtube all the time and I Skype with my family members a lot when I am at school. If this new law passed and I had to pay extra for these services I would be pretty discouraged to use them and would not nearly use them as much as I do now. I also like to go on websites such as Barstool Sports and The Chive which to some people might be considered inappropriate. Once again neither of those site would be ones I need to check but for my pleasure I like to check them and see what they have to offer.

Where do I stand on Net Neutrality?:
I am in favor of net neutrality. I believe that anyone should have the ability to access what they want with no restrictions. I understand there is a toll taken on the phone companies with expanding bandwidth for all the people sharing videos and sending messages but it is a part of the service they offer and they already charge enough. I also understand there is material online that should be restricted from certain people (or everyone for that matter) but it is the users responsibility to do their best to try and stay away from those types of things. Net neutrality provokes exploration and in turn provides people with the ideas that sometimes lead to creations that benefit the rest of society.

Two sources:
I decided these two sites were valid sites about this topic because they are both from credible news sources (New York Times and The Hill). The first is from the New York Times and discusses how the european union is making net neutrality a more popular thing. Prior to this there was more restrictions in Europe for online access but now they are working to free up more information for the average person. The second article from The Hill discusses how Verizon says net neutrality is good business. It makes more users want to join their service and raises the customers satisfaction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/19/business/international/eu-panel-adopts-net-neutrality-and-mobile-roaming-rules.html?_r=0

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/201177-comcast-ceo-net-neutrality-is-good-business

Social Media And Privacy

Social media is such a powerful part of our everyday lives in todays society. It is crazy to think about how many people we know, including ourselves, are wrapped up in all these different social media programs. There are two sides to this topic. There is the good side which shows how helpful social media can be. It is a way of networking with many people who otherwise you might not meet. There are many programs such as LinkedIn which help you connect with people who can be very beneficial to your future success. The other side to the social media epidemic is the negative side to it. The side where there is cyber bullying in all different forms. People can be terrorized on these social media sites such as twitter for being different than the "majority". This is a terrible thing because it attacks people who are doing nothing wrong but some random people think they deserve to be treated poorly. In some extreme cases we see people committing suicide or hurting themselves in some other way because they think these random people bullying them are making sense. It is a terrible thing and how social media can be a bad thing.

I Have Nothing To Hide

Online privacy is a very limited idea in todays world. People are asked how safe do they feel and they respond they have nothing to hide. My feeling on this is people are generally unaware of how unsafe there information is. They also might be unaware of all the information they actually have online. Sometimes people do not understand all the information they have put on their Facebook pages or twitter accounts that actually tells more about them than they realize. They do not think about the reality of hackers and how they can obtain information that these people think is private. As great as the internet is and all the privacy policies it has to offer there are holes everywhere and hackers find these holes and steal information from people and most of the time people do not understand its happened until its too late.

As for me I would have considered myself one of these people prior to being introduced to this class. I would regard myself as someone who is very careful about what I put online however I know there is more than I think. Like I said in the previous paragraph I understand there is probably more information about me online than I think which does scare me a bit. Even though it is still early in this class I have learned a lot about how the internet word and how it is nowhere close to 100% safe. After seeing the videos I have and reading the articles I have it scares me to think how available my information is and how it could be obtained by hackers. Knowing that I do understand there are parts that are safe but you just always need to be careful about what gets put up online.

The Internet in Todays' Society

The Internet is a very powerful thing. It can be used for many good things and be very helpful. However it can also be very bad and a very dangerous medium in todays electronic world. The internet has thousands and thousands of useful facts that help people every day in their daily searches. I personally use it everyday for school work and other forms of social media to connect with friends. Although it has all of these good purposes it also has many negative ones. The power of the internet has allowed people to steal personal information from others. Identity left has been a huge problem and it affects many people today. Hopefully we can work on this problem and help find a solution to prevent these bad things and have the internet only for positive use.

Andrew Eriksen