After watching the video Humanity Lobotomy, I was in shock. I had no idea that internet service providers were trying so hard to interfere with how people use the internet. I know it sounds like I live in a cave; I am generally not aware of anything that is going on in the world, unless someone tells me, or we talk about it in class. My cave comes in the form of a three bedroom apartment, with no television or internet access (my roommates are too cheap to pay for it, and enjoy living in a cave). So once I finally emerged from my cage, came over to UTD, and watched the video, I jumped over to the Save the Internet site to find out a little more about this whole “net neutrality” thing was about.

I found a link that took me to an article from the Associated Press that discusses Comcast and it’s attempts to interfere with people using BitTorrent. Users can download files, but might be denied or delayed if the files are complete. The reason behind their interference…

“appears to be an aggressive way of managing its network to keep file-sharing traffic from swallowing too much bandwidth and affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers.”

Who is Comcast to decide which user is more important. I understand that it is their company, but when people pay for internet access, they do so with the impression that they will be able to access everything that is available on the web, not just bits and pieces. When people pay for service, they expect good service. The majority of the world functions by the term “the customer is always right;” Comcast is not the exception; their customers pay for service and should receive the best service possible.

By taking away bandwidth from BitTorrent users in order to giver more bandwidth to other users, Comcast is deciding which user is more deserving of that bandwidth. In their eyes, people who share files through the internet are not worthy of full access. It is not their right to decide which user is more important, or what the user should have access to.

Since when is Comcast the authority on who is important in the world. The next question racing through my mind is; who will be the next group to be knocked down the totem pole.