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Lawrence Lessig Net Neutrality

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On December 30, 2015, Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law and Ethics at Harvard University, who had announced his candidacy for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination the previous month, told the Wall Street Journal that, “…When push comes to shove, if certain services are not available to you because of privacy restrictions, you back out of restrictions…Where I can protect privacy at very low cost, people will want to protect privacy” (The CIO Report RSS). Lessig was referring to the controversial concept of “net neutrality,” which is essentially the idea that ISPs, or Internet service providers, should allow the public to access any amount of content on the Internet the same way, which is what currently the case, but some parties have …show more content…

Back in 2006, Aaron Weiss, a technology writer and web developer, noted that, “The real fight over network neutrality isn’t between the telecoms and their end users—it’s with the major content providers, who now hold the largest bankrolls” (Weiss 25). Today, that is truer than ever. Content providers that have become immensely popular over the last decade, like Netflix and Google, want immunity from bandwidth restrictions and fees, because users want fast accessibility to these sites. The idea of no bandwidth restrictions is appealing to them because when they “can charge consumers directly, the only regulation that results in a change in their payoffs is strong net neutrality. Thus, moving from any other regime to strong net neutrality, increases the profits of the content provider that attracts consumer attention…By contrast, in the absence of strong net neutrality, that marginal surplus is appropriated by the ISP” (Gans …show more content…

Many individuals still believe in the progressive ideals that the Internet was founded upon, and want to see that it continues to be a place for innovation, where information is free and available. They don’t want large corporations having very strict control over that. Only a few days ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill in an attempt to limit the FCC’s authority on net neutrality. The debate on net neutrality is far from over, and no one knows how the Internet will operate a decade from now. One thing is clear, however: the American people have a huge influence on what will ultimately happen, so if they want to maintain the privacy and freedom that they desire, they need to continue to make their voices

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