In the past several weeks, Donald Trump has gone to war with the CIA, Meryl Streep, China, and the media. Now, his latest foe is none other than the internet.
New reports indicate that Trump will pick Ajit Pai to take up the role of Chairman of the FCC. Pai will be a disastrous force against a free and inexpensive internet since he’s adamantly against net neutrality.
But what is net neutrality, you ask? Net Neutrality is the idea that all web traffic, no matter from which sites, must be treated equally by internet service providers like Verizon and AT&T.
Abolishing net neutrality means that internet providers will put certain sites in “fast lanes” and “slow lanes.” Sites that pay fees to these providers will be slotted into the fast lane, while sites that can’t afford to pay will be slow to access and hard to load.
Pai will be in a position at the FCC to abolish net neutrality once and for all, with rich corporate telecom companies being the only ones who will benefit. Such a move could be very, very bad for the little guy.
“First off, the web could get more expensive,” said consumer advocate expert Harold Feld. “Websites would probably pass on to consumers the costs of paying for high-speed access.”
“It could become difficult to view certain websites owned by companies that can’t afford to pay for access to an internet fast last,” Feld continued. “Consumers may start choosing their internet providers based on which websites they like to visit.”
Trump campaigned on wanting to help the average working class American get ahead. But abolishing net neutrality will hurt the working class while simultaneously giving boatloads of cash to powerful corporations – you know, the “Swamp” that Trump wanted to drain.
Make no mistake, there’s no other reason to fight net neutrality besides wanting to give corporate welfare to America’s biggest telecom companies. But that’s the Republican way, right – help out the rich and the elite while screwing the average American.
Just look at the companies that want to overturn net neutrality, such as IBM, Cisco, Verizon, Nokia, and AT&T. These large corporations give large political donations to Republicans, and now they want their backs scratched in return.
But then again, that’s how corruption works in Trump’s America. If you do Trump a big favor, he’ll make sure that you get repaid on the basis of pure loyalty – because tyrants sure love their loyalty.
And there’s also a huge conflict of interest at work here, as well. Pai used to be a lawyer for Verizon, so now he’s going to try and give them the presidential hook-up by abolishing net neutrality once and for all.
America should be a society of freedom and equality. Shame on Trump for wanting to fracture the internet just so his rich friends can make bigger bucks than ever before.
The opposition to net neutrality must be stopped. But it’s certainly going to be an uphill battle for all of us with Pai heading up the FCC.
Trump wants to break your internet, so share this story on Facebook while you still can. Let’s stand up together and demand an open and cheap internet for all.
