There is a general lack of knowledge among people when it comes to understanding the concept of “net neutrality”. This issue has now evolved into a huge debate of Internet service providers charging more money for faster internet services. Michael Bennet, a Law professor at Northeastern University discusses this issue and how the general public lacks in understanding everyday technologies.
Bennet says, “Net neutrality is a concept, a kind of design protocol which calls for all Internet traffic to be treated equally”. It avoids discrimination between users and allows everybody to operate on the same internet speed. The content providers who can afford the premium fee (called “fast lanes”) can provide faster access to those who cannot afford it.
Discussing the lack of awareness about various issues of technology and the Internet, Bennet says that Americans did embrace technologies but failed to understand them completely. This relates to the growing indifference to how the technology works and how it might work differently.
According to Bennet, this growing ignorance of the real use of technology can lead to problems. Firstly, the relation between humans and the world built by them is mystical, as we are not aware of our creations. And because of this, the majority of people cannot participate in understanding the political consequences of this technology built world.
Bennet wrote an essay called “a new Gilded age”. This piece spoke about the creation of artificial organs but the increasing wealth distribution would make these visions impossible. This new age would also provide consistent “net neutrality”, resulting in the equal distribution of net services to all its consumers. This equality will ensure that the internet is not provided on the basis of any distinctions and that ISPs (Internet Service providers) may not intentionally block or slow down online content.
Akshara Palshetkar