Not to start the semester off with a doom and gloom post, but this is of major importance and everyone should be aware. Recently, the federal court of appeals struck down net neutrality. I saw very little news about this outside of tech circles, but it is something that affects every single one of us, and is the darkest day the Internet has had yet to face.

You see, the Internet first came on line way back in 1968, and up until January 14th every bit that traveled across that network was considered equal, and the FCC recently qualified policy stating as much – you can read the almost 200-page document here (.pdf). You want to watch Netflix? Learn how to determine the gender of a tarantula? Find out if moving to Denmark would be wise? See how much Nikes cost on Amazon? Get a list of quotes for Monty Python movies? Or any other infinite number of things you can do online? You could – It was all treated equally, and that’s what net neutrality represents.

But no more.

Verizon was not pleased with the FCC making these policies and challenged them in court stating they had no right to make those policies, and Verizon won. Now, private companies, with Verizon taking the lead, have control over how those bits flow to your device. Say, for example, that Comcast, who has a stake in Hulu, decided they wanted people to use Hulu and not Netflix. They are now allowed to throttle or restrict your access to Netflix making it nigh unwatchable. That high-speed Internet connection you pay for? It’s only as good as the content your provider wants you to see. Or if the provider decides they don’t want you seeing anything *at all* as regards certain content, they can block it altogether. Or, for a less doomsday and more reality-based approach, they could demand higher fees from services like Netflix, which will then, of course, pass those costs on to you. And there is no recourse now.

The Internet is no longer the equal exchange of ideas. The flow of information is now governed by the companies (some are saying this works in favor of the FCC, by the way).

I personally would like to see it go to the Supreme Court and I suspect it will. I was surprised it happened, and to be fair these companies, at least in the near term, would be very short-sighted to start heavy-handing content because of the backlash they know they would get. But everyone in the tech industry went crazy about it, unfortunately no one else seemed to care. But they might, once the content providers start flexing their muscle.