week6.html

<title> CS349 Spring 2019: Robert McInvale</title>
<h1 style = "font-size:300%;"><b> Robert McInvale CS 349 Blog</h1></b>
<h2 style = "font-size:200%;">Week 6 - Government and Internet</h1></b>

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“Net Neutrality” is a terrible name. 
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The issues the term describes revolve around forced regulation of internet service providers in order to prevent discrimination and unfair, monopoly-enforced practices, but none of this is properly expressed by the term itself. In circumstances where the subject matter is easily parsed and understood by the average US citizen, extremely uninformative names like “pro choice” or “defense of marriage” are not necessarily damaging to the point of deceiving the public (though they can still be egregiously misleading). However, in cases such as the “Net Neutrality” issue, much of the public is completely unaware of the implications of the main thrust of the regulation, much less the many subtle, technical details and ramifications that lay behind it<sup>1</sup>.
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The result is that a vast swath of non-nerd America is forced to choose between names like “Net Neutrality” and “Restoring Internet Freedom,” which, while sounding positive and roughly equivalent on the surface, are literal opposites in fact<sup>2</sup>. With no time or proclivity to learn all of the background information that would be required to grasp the main ideas of such initiatives, the public is forced to rely on their names alone - and they suck. 
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The solution? Let’s not try to abstract ourselves into a name that covers all of our philosophical bases on this issue. Instead, use a name that makes things clear to the average person. Personally, I like calling it the “discriminatory internet service” issue, and discussing it as “whether we should let ISPs choose which sites you can visit, and the quality of service you get from each.” Sure, the name is a little lengthy, and the byword definitely doesn’t cover all of the intricate technical ramifications of the FCC’s actions - but it’s a hell of a lot more informative than “Net Neutrality.”


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<sup>1</sup><a href="http://sciencenordic.com/net-neutrality-what-public-gets-wrong">http://sciencenordic.com/net-neutrality-what-public-gets-wrong</a></br>
<sup>2</sup><a href="https://www.bustle.com/p/what-are-the-new-net-neutrality-rules-the-restoring-internet-freedom-order-just-took-effect-9364535">https://www.bustle.com/p/what-are-the-new-net-neutrality-rules-the-restoring-internet-freedom-order-just-took-effect-9364535</a><br>