When I was in middle school my family shared one computer. My mom held the main account on AOL and it did not take me long to figure out that she had set strict parental controls. Not only could she monitor all of my activity, she could also make certain websites unavailable to me. At my high school, each student was provided with a laptop for school use. Although they were usually old and not in the best condition, it was nice to have my own laptop. However, it was not hard to figure out that these computer's Internet access was restricted by the school. The school blocked all gaming websites as well as social networking sites such as Facebook and anything else that the school deemed inappropriate or non educational. Upon arriving to the University of Richmond I learned that we are provided with free Internet access. However, this Internet access comes with its own form of restrictions. Although it does not ban us from accessing certain websites, it does slow down when accessing certain websites.
In class we discussed the very important concept of net neutrality that Wu discusses in The Master Switch. Net neutrality advocates no restrictions on the Internet for paid users. This to me seems to be a good principle because if I pay for the Internet I want a good connection that is not based on the content of the site or the provider. The tubes that make up the Internet, however, can be manipulated by the service providers. This would mean that some websites take less time to load because the service provider made the tube bigger. While other websites may have a smaller tube to travel through, meaning it will take longer to load. In a similar scenario, Apple has placed restrictions on things such as applications that can be downloaded to an iPhone. It has led to a large number of people jailbreaking their iPhones to get around such restrictions. Steve Jobs has also acknowledged that Adobe Flash is not supported on Apple products. These restrictions have come to upset many people, because just like paying Internet users, Apple users do not want restrictions on something for which they have paid.
I have come to respect parental controls such as the ones my mom used when I was younger. Although I hated my high school's restrictions at the time, I understand why the school created them. However, the idea that a service provider can slow down my connection based on my activity or based on the provider. I think that the Internet should be neutral and there should be no discrimination based on the content of a site or the provider's preference. Who wants to pay to be restricted?
I agree, no one wants to pay to be restricted. It is important for companies to satisfy their customers. When I pay for an iTouch or an iPad, I expect to have access to all applications. If Apple places too many restrictions on their products, customers will either complain or start buying Google products. I also agree that the concept of net neutrality is very important. If net neutrality no longer exists, internet users will become very frustrated with the slow connection and the inability to access certain sites.
ReplyDeleteI believe that parental controls are the best method for self-regulation. Here's where Tyler and I parted company: I don't trust government enough, beyond restricting content that is clearly felonious (child pornography) or a threat to national security (sharing, say, US defense secrets or methods for hacking a telecom's data centers).
ReplyDeleteBut I also mistrust telecoms. I would prefer an environment with many choices of providers so I could switch without a long-term contract if a provider did something I disliked.