Net Neutrality RIP

This is one of those obscure tech topics but it really isn’t that complicated. Imagine you have a startup company making cool ties. You create a nice web site. Your ties are cool and business picks up.

Then Comcast says that they will reduce the speed they serve up your website unless you pay them 10K a month.

If that sounds crazy to you, realize that Netflix just did this (not that they wanted to). They paid Comcast extra to get good speeds. Only it wasn’t 10K. Sure, they can afford it. But can your custom tie site?

The Verge has a bunch of articles on this:

Some NSFW language, but a good one.

The original, (with the original NSFW headline).

Today’s article about the FCC proposal.

And Mother Jones’s RIP article.

This is a big deal. Imagine if Walmart’s trucks could drive 75 mph but everyone else had to drive 55. Would we stand for that?