The Internet Slowdown Protest

Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Wil, the internet guy and retro game writer for the site.

This is a more serious post then my others about jovial old games so please bare with me and above else, please read.

The Torch: Entertainment Guide has given me the ability to speak frankly what is called the Internet Slowdown protest which may require some explaining to some of you.

In the United States, there have been conversations and plans on changing the Net Neutrality laws that govern internet regulation and how Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) give you access to the internet. This could include to a system where ISP’s, when giving you access to the internet, could create a two tiered system of service where the internet is slowed for some so it can be speed up for others. This could be done just for commercial gain to promote a site/service above another or to create a premium service that is more expensive than its baseline service but is faster because the baseline is slowed down so the premium can be faster.

The idea of Net Neutrality is that “all data is treated equally”, all the way from Netflix to the latest cat video, all the way to the more nude side of the internet. All data is equal. The idea of a two tier system should be avoided because it breaks the cardinal rule of fairness and neutrality.

Some might say for those, like me and many of us at the Torch, who do not live in the United States or have any interests there don’t have that much of a say. Those people are right. But our fear is that this idea of a two tier system, if accepted in the United States, will soon come to our shores and it would be our fight next.

So please, for those living in the United States, oppose these changes that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are proposing to net neutrality law and regulation. And everyone else, please stand with them.

As my name says, I am a guy off the internet. This means that I am a person of the internet, just like all of us. And this is one of the times we need to stand together as people of the internet and keep the internet as a service fair and neutral.

Thank you for reading,

Wil.