The digital divide that is prominent in today’s society is sky rocketing daily, especially in Canada. Unfortunately, Internet will never be a free service and we never expect it to be; but, Coalition member ACORN Canada, a national organization of low- and moderate-income families, is calling on the CRTC to mandate that $10 per month high-speed internet packages be made available to families and individuals living below Statistics Canada's low-income measure (Goodyear, 2016). Some solutions consist of higher-earning Canadians paying a little extra on their own internet bills - about a dollar a month - to subsidize access for those who can't afford it. (Goodyear, 2016). I personally believe that this solution is risky because it would unfair if other Canadians have to pay …show more content…
Unfortunately, many low-income Canadians have high-speed internet, but pay for it by cutting back on other necessities, like groceries (Harris, 2016). The Affordable Access Coalition is petitioning the CRTC to subsidize internet access for low-income and rural Canadians (Goodyear, 2016); however, citizens are realizing they need access to the online world more than ever before. The digital divide, advocates say, serves to keep the poorest Canadians from getting a leg up (Goodyear, 2016). This is exactly why affordable Internet access should be a human right. We should not be sacrificing whether or not low-income families will be eating this week or surfing the web. The CBC News states that interviewee Amber Slegtenhorst, “admits to covering her $60 monthly bill for home phone and internet. But the single mother of five children says her family needs online access”; (Goodyear, 2016) but, she somewhat sacrifices home necessities for Internet
As described previously, zero-rate offers are profit centers for companies yet are a restrictive form of “network discrimination” — it deliberately sets up a system where users receive usage speed based on location or unfixed caps. (Estelle Masse, 2016) Zero rating is about controlling the user’s experience over the provider’s network. It is still of our position to support net neutrality, as it pertains to the Internet and Mobile usage. At the local level MEPs have to educate constituents about the policy changes with “Roam Like at Home” and holding the NRA chapters responsible for intervening on issues that occur within its
The internet is a resource with ever expanding content and applications for everyone to use however, net neutrality rules on the free use of internet remains a debated topic. The “Point/Counterpoint: Network Neutrality Nuances” presents Barbara van Schewick’s supportive argument on the applications of net neutrality rules, and the consequences of failing to do so. Schewick’s engaging justifications are well researched with arguments containing significant amounts of examples, strong and simplistic diction to reach her audience, and clean and smooth transitions to move between ideas.
The internet is valuable, and it has a real cost, and most people take it for granted. If you want it, you have to pay for it. It’s not just a free substace to give away. People do not even need the internet at all. First of all, yes, the internet is valuable. But, not everyone has it, or even has a possibility to have it at all. If the Internet is valuable, we should want to show it to others who don’t have internet or can not afford it, because after all it WOULD help our economy grow, as in paragraph 2. Also, it is not fair to everyone to say that we all “take it for granted”, because if you do not even have it, you can’t take it for granted. People who have less things are more grateful, and would be extremely grateful to have internet access, and would not take it for granted whatsoever. According to the website www.internet.org, it states, “Through our connectivity efforts we’ve brought more than 25 million people online who otherwise would not be and introduced them to the incredible value of the internet. They’re doing better in school, building new businesses, and learning how to stay healthy.” Also, from the website www.forbes.com states, “Right now, 72% of public schools do not have fast enough connections to take full advantage of digital learning, according to EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit that tests school broadband speeds and works to upgrade Internet access. The Obama
Miller, Claire Cain. "Why the U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Internet Speed and Affordability." The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Oct. 2014. Web.
The biggest concern is that the internet will become pay-to-play technology with two tiers: one that has speedy service and one that doesn’t. The high-speed lane would be occupied by big internet and media companies, and affluent households. For everyone else there would be the slow lane.
126). Two types of internet services emerged Internet support centres (ISCs), as well as Community Networking Centres (CNCs) (Brown & Harris, 2012, p. 126). ISCs are areas in the community offering internet access, internet summer camps, and computer training courses. CNCs train individuals in other technologies related to the internet such as, scanners, printers, photocopiers, and how to send a fax (Brown & Harris, 2012, p. 125). With the help of the government, social agencies, schools, library’s, volunteers, and multiple contributions and support from various business’s CAP has made major strides in their mission (CAP, PEI). By using the general systems theory we can evaluate just how much CAP has positively affected PEI Residents from all age
Although many people say that “net neutrality has had no effect on the expansion of the internet”. In 2017 The Federal Communications Commission announced "For instance, several companies, including AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and Alaska Communications either commenced or announced new deployments in 2017," the report concludes. "These new deployments are initial indicators that deployment is likely to accelerate again in part due to our recent efforts”. This tells us that companies are starting to accelerate the growth of their broadband networks to rural places in the United States. This is necessary due to people who have access to the internet have a higher achievement rate than people who did not. The Pew Research Center reported, “Roughly one-in-three adults with less than a high school education did not have access to the internet as a kid”. This is an astonishing statistic and net neutrality is stopping these companies from expanding so it is leaving some people in the dust with their education. Secondly, net neutrality slows investment by giving the companies no reason to invest in internet expansion because they cannot bring back the money that they put into the expansion. In 2017 wired.com did a report on internet expansion in rural areas and the report said: “investment in internet infrastructure declined 3 percent in 2015 and another 2 percent in
As someone who has had some sort of web presence for over ten years , I am completely and unequivocally in favor of net neutrality. Google defines net neutrality as "the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. " What net neutrality means to me, is that the content I have to share (however mundane it may be) has an equal opportunity of reaching any Internet user as any
"Growing up, the internet wasn't much of an influence on me as it is now. Homework was done all in paper, every video assignment was done in class, and to call or play with friends, well that was done during recess face to face. Today the internet is the safe haven for millions as a way to find new people, spend free time, complete assignments, or just shop. But thanks to the vote done by the FCC chairman Ajit Pai, everybody will be expected to pay for what were already used to do.
The concept of network neutrality (more commonly referred to as net neutrality) has been a fixture of debates over United States telecommunications policy throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based upon the principle that internet access should not be altered or restricted by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) one chooses to use, it has come to represent the hopes of those who believe that the internet still has the potential to radically transform the way in which we interact with both people and information, in the face of the commercial interests of ISPs, who argue that in order to sustain a competitive marketplace for internet provision, they must be allowed to differentiate their services. Whilst this debate has
Everyone who uses the internet should potentially benefit from equal access to all sites. Large companies, such as Netflix, Facebook and Amazon, will also benefit. In the past such companies have had to pay higher fees to maintain speeds. Under the new law, this will not be allowed to happen. Having to subsidise specific data usage and content should be a thing of the past.
Around the world, several CEO’s of major tech industries are supporting the idea of keeping the internet free and provide access to information without any barriers. Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosted a Q n A in which he mentioned his full support to Net Neutrality. His idea of providing the internet to the world using his initiative internet.org will help several under developed and developing parts of the world to get access to basic internet services and the content it provides. According to him the content should not be discriminated or limited by internet service providers like AT&T and Verizon. In countries where there’s no internet at all, it would be better to have some internet services so that there’s an establishment of connectivity rather than no internet. This is the reason the initiative of internet.org is important and can co-exist with net neutrality. He also believes that net
Technology is growing faster than ever before right now. And along the way technology invented items we now take for granted such as the telephone, the television, and the internet. Since the advent of the internet our world has become more connected by allowing users from the comfort of their own home to interact with people anywhere in the world. The internet has become a staple in the everyday life of the American. We use it to learn, reconnect with long lost friends, and so much more. But what happens when big service internet providers push to control what websites you can visit? Groups such as Save the Internet, the American Civil Liberties Union, and even the president Barack Obama have advocated for a free and open internet, which is also known as net neutrality. I believe net neutrality is vital to our modern day life in America. This is why I want to propose an amendment to keep the internet free. The amendment shall read: “The internet shall remain free and open and not be subjected to restrictions determined by internet service providers.”
According to Blease C.R (2015) “ in 2013, 70% of American households had a home computer and internet access” (Blease, 2015). This number has surely grown rapidly within in the last couple years. As of 2014, 81% of households in the United States are connected to the Internet. That is over 250 million American Internet users. (CIRA, 2014). In comparison, in Canada about 87% of Canadian households have access to Internet, which is about 30 million internet users (CIRA, 2014). Two provinces that have the highest number of Internet users are British Columbia and Alberta. While the lowest ranking provinces include Quebec, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (CIRA, 2014).
Americans have become very dependent on the use of the Internet and this dependence has begun to negatively affect current generations