By CHRIS AGBOLA
Columnist
When we talk about the U.S being the most powerful country in the world, what comes to the minds of many is its weaponry and prowess in regards to effective security. As important as security is to any nation, it is the policies that run that security that make it good or bad. A great nation treats the interests of its citizens as paramount.
Without any biases, the president’s stance on net neutrality couldn’t reiterate more why America is a model of emulation and a trail blazer. In a tech-driven world that we thrive in, the Internet is as relevant as oxygen to the body. It is the effective communication and dissemination of information across the continents that render the world a global village. Net neutrality couldn’t be given a nod at any other time than the present. Are the service providers in support of it? Not all are because it is business to them. It would be a great way of making money off folks.
Here are the reasons I favor net neutrality:
Paying more money to access popular sites or better Internet service is unfair. The right to communication and information as enshrined in the Constitution must be equal for all. Regulating the net is an enfringment to this right. Failure to regulate it does not only limit information to a select few, but also classifies folks into financial levels — the rich accessing more and better services while the poor wouldn’t know some things going on while they all live on the same soil. Should the Federal Communications Commission implement net neutrality, there would be competition among service providers, which some of them are trying to avoid. Quality would be the deciding factor there. It would be that because the net is free and open, the quality of provider A over B would affect my choice and not their financial standings.
A country’s status also depends a lot on their cyber laws and communication laws. Certain countries are not classified as third world only because of their resources and economy but also their rudimentary laws. In some European and Asian countries, Internet laws are just ridiculous. The government strictly monitors the net. It decides to close whichever service provider it feels is exposing the government’s acts and arrests folks who upload certain videos or information it does not support. An extreme of it is that you cannot access certain information or subscribe to some providers because the Internet is government-run. This shows how the basic rights of life cannot be observed in some parts of world.
But in the land of the free and the home of the brave, everyone is free to do as he or she pleases. God bless America!