In just a few months, the FCC is expected to enact new rules that would allow (or, perhaps more accurately, fail to disallow) ISPs to provide “fast lanes” for companies who could afford to cough up the dough.
When ISPs are able to decide which site’s data moves the fastest, competition becomes a matter of who is willing/able to spend the most. Big companies like Netflix, ESPN, and Disney lose. Startups lose. You lose. Everyone loses (besides the ISPs).
The open Internet is in danger — but how many people actually care?
647,000, give or take.
That’s the number of comments that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says they’ve received so far.
We’ve received about 647k #netneutrality comments so far. Keep your input coming — 1st round of comments wraps up July 15.— Tom Wheeler (@TomWheelerFCC) July 11, 2014
In four days, the commenting process enters the “reply” phase. At that point, this first batch of comments become public. You’ll be able to read what others have commented, and voice your support/disagreement.
Need a refresher on why this matters? Watch the video up top, in which John Oliver breaks it down better than just about anyone could.