Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

First off what is net neutrality? Net neutrality is the assurance that anything we go to do on the internet won't be blocked from us or restricted in any way. But in January of this year net neutrality has faced some problems. Now you may be asking what the pro's of net neutrality might be.

• one of the most important pro's I think is the fact that the web does not discriminate based on who you are, everyone who goes on the web is treated the same 
• because there are no restrictions on the web sites like amazon, ebay, etc. have been created and have become a world wide phenomenon 
• another pro to net neutrality can be seen in blog's like these, you are able to say whatever you want and it is not restricted in any way

and now for the cons....

• because nothing is restricted on the internet certain websites are losing possible income, an example that was said in the reading was that larger companies that have larger sites could be asking for more money to use their website 
• if there were laws created to monitor the web then certain loopholes could be created and these could then hinder the use of the internet

Recently net neutrality has been seen in the news, it has been spoken about when involving Netflix. Netflix provides movies and TV shows to users that pay a certain amount of money each month to use their service. If there was no more net neutrality there would be no more Netflix. Netflix is now supposed to pay Comcast and make a deal with them to be able to continue the way they are. After this announcement Netflix's stock went down 3.4 %. 

Another big part of net neutrality is that it has a lot to do with the freedom of speech. It allows users like myself to write about what they want, watch what they want, and not be discriminated. Something that is very important in today's world. If net neutrality reached a point where laws were made to monitor what was being done on the internet I don't think personally it would have a great deal of impact on my life, except if it started making laws against what you are allowed to post on Facebook. I see Facebook as an outlet where you can share your life with friends and family. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/business/fcc-to-propose-new-rules-on-open-internet.html 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/23/comcasts-deal-with-netflix-makes-network-neutrality-obsolete/ 

These recent news articles talk about was is going on in net neutrality; they are from reliable news paper sources. 

Social Media and Privacy Question

This article was hard to read because the information was so sad but I think it is also an important thing to read. I think for most of us on a college campus it is hard to remember that rape happens, and it is possibly happening around us if we are out at parties. I think that the sexual assaults need to be faced head on but it is hard to think that by doing this a consequence would be putting the victim in jeopardy. By doing this many victims, especially young victims are turning to suicide. In this day of age with the use of cell phones and social media it is hard for these cases to be dealt with in a private manner. While I think it is good for these situations to be brought to the surface I think that social media is making the private lives of the victims harder. It is exposing some of their most disturbing memories and something that has an enormous impact on their life.

I Have Nothing to Hide Question

I believe that we should all be concerned with privacy and the internet. There are many reasons for this; one of the main ones is that most people use the internet for several different reasons. I know that I have bought several things online and have given websites my credit card information to do this, I am sure that many other people have done the same thing. By people saying they have nothing to hide on the internet then they are saying they don' t care if other people have their credit card information. Another privacy concern I have is the internet knowing too much personal information, like where we live and where we are. This poses a concern because people could use the information in a harmful way.