Leetzone

If you’ve been exploring the twitterverse or blogosphere recently, you may have noticed a large amount of posts and articles on net neutrality, Google + Verizon, and the future of the Internet. Well we at Leetzone have awoken from our Tumblr slumber to try to explain what the heck is going on, and give our own two cents on the issue as well. So let’s paint the big picture shall we?

The Internet. It’s huge, it’s filled with mind boggling amounts of data, users, sites etc. And it’s constantly evolving and transforming. And right now the issue over the future of the Internet is focused on “net neutrality”, with corporations like Google, Verizon, and Comcast right in the center of the argument. Net neutrality is the principle that says all information flowing across the Internet should be treated equally. Basically the issue comes down to keeping the web wide “open” or to have a more governed form of the web. And there are pros and cons going each way.

What happens if Internet providers have more power? The providers could create deals with whichever sites they chose to provide service for, in order to generate traffic for those sites and make it harder to go to the alternative competition sites. For example, a big influential blog like Mashable could set up a deal with providers like AT&T, Verizon, or Comcast in order to have preferred bandwidth for their site, and limited bandwidth for other similar blogs, effectively funneling traffic to their site. In time, they might even set up a deal to straight-up block other blogging sites. This is just a hypothetical example of how things could go. We have no founding for saying that would happen, but it could. (We love Mashable btw, they’re pretty cool)

But there are compelling reasons that have been argued for the opposite. Stronger Internet regulation could make the web a more secure place and help lesson the number of illegal activities occurring over the Internet. There are lots of horrible things that happen to ordinary people on the Internet. Financial frauds, phishing, identity thefts, credit card thefts and many other illegal activities occur every day, and curbing the high number of these events could only be a good thing. A more regulated Internet would no doubt help in this regard, but wouldn’t criminals just find another way around it?

So, our opinion. The reason you’re reading this post right? In our humble opinion, an unregulated Internet gives the ultimate power of what the web is made of the to users of the Internet, to the people. The Internet is a competitive free market, kept that way by allowing users to go where they want to go on the net. Regulation would curb the innovation that makes the Internet so great for everyone who uses it. Times may change and regulation may become necessary, but that isn’t the case right now. So for the time being, we would prefer to see net neutrality stand. Just our humble, unregulated opinion folks.

If you’ve got any questions at all, or just feel like sharing your opinion, don’t hesitate to contact us!