Important things: Net Neutrality

So, I normally wouldn't post a blog about this sort of thing, but I think it deserves mentioning, and I know a lot of people have posted blogs about this already, but hey, it's also worth repeating.

Net neutrality, the thing that keeps the internet functioning evenly for everyone, so large internet companies can't limit access or speed with fees or censorship. It's a key feature of making the internet work these days. However, last night I found out that the FCC just voted to repeal it.

You've probably already seen something about it, or even before the vote this past Thursday. This is bad. Now the vote still has to go by Congress and then if it gets past them, the president has to sign it. So it's not completely the end. Take a look at this website.

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

They list all the representatives in Congress that are known to support net neutrality, those against it, and those whose stances are unknown. I did a count out of curiosity and right now 208 are in favor of neutrality (that's across both houses), 187 are against it, and 141 are unknown. Yes, the ones that are definitely against it are in the minority, but this is still very nerve-wracking. And that number of unknowns is also very large too.

Losing net neutrality has a big impact, including people's ability to make money using the internet, as many have done.

With that in mind, it's important we do our part to try and get Congress to reject this vote. That means you need to contact them, all of you. Use the scoreboard feature on the site above to call or tweet those from your state. No matter what happens, we all need to make the effort and make contact.

Now some of you may not tend to do that sort of thing. I get that. Neither do I. I've never done this, and I don't particularly want to make a habit of this. I don't even use Twitter.

But I'm going to do it. We need to be heard, we need to try, and this is how. This is serious business people. So I'm writing this to tell you to do it. Lots of people are already voicing their opinions, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Don't simply think "there's no way this will happen, so why should I do anything?" The thing is, how many OTHERS may have the same idea? This thing needs all the help it can get. It needs to stop at Congress.

Now if you do use the site and select your state, it will group all the reps together without telling if they are for, against, or unknown. If you want to focus on a particular category, just have "Select a state" in the box and then search the page to find out who is where. Though there is some sense in sending a message to all of them anyway, just in case.

And that's all I have to say here. It's a critical problem we need to do something about, so PLEASE do something. Get in contact. Just get in contact. Do something. Say whatever you will about the system, I don't really care at the moment. But this is how the system works, so let's put it to use, shall we?