by Jennifer Swanson

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The FCC’s Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed a new plan in April that would put net neutrality in serious danger, and this Wednesday top websites like Reddit, Vimeo, and WordPress will be taking part in an internet demonstration to call their users to action. Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should treat all internet traffic equally.

Fight For The Future , the organization responsible for the upcoming protest, warns that the FCC’s new plan would create a two-tiered internet, one where websites that pay extra fees to ISPs could have their content funnelled to users more quickly in a “fast lane,” leaving other websites in a congested “slow lane.” This Wednesday, September 10th, websites will be displaying an alert with the loading graphic– the proverbial “spinning wheel of death”– to give users a sample of what the internet might be like if the FCC continues on its current course. Though, this “Internet Slowdown” is only symbolic and will not actually affect downloading speeds.

Why is this such a big deal? Well, many are arguing that the internet is a space for innovation because startup companies like the video streaming site VHX are on the same playing field with bigger companies like Netflix. So, small companies can compete with larger companies based on the merit of their ideas. A two-tiered internet would allow cable companies to favor their own content and the content of their highest paying customers, squeezing out small startups whose users will prefer their competitors’ faster loading content.

Here is the worst part:

This new plan would give ISPs the power to block content for political reasons. In Canada in 2005, workers for an ISP called Telus went on strike. When one of the strikers created a website in support of the protest called Voices for Change, Telus blocked its customers’ access to the site. This kind of corporate censorship could very soon be a reality in the United States if the new plan is enacted. Unless the FCC decides to reclassify the internet as a “public utility” like telephone service, granting it the same protection, the internet as a space for free political speech might be in danger.

This Wednesday, Sept. 10, you can join the movement to preserve net neutrality by contacting FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, using the Battle for the Net’s code to display the loading icon on your website, or setting the icon as your Twitter photo

Sources:

http://act.freepress.net/sign/internet_fcc_break/source=FPblog

http://www.cnet.com/news/top-websites-join-internet-slowdown-day-in-symbolic-protest-of-fast-lanes/

http://tumblr.fightforthefuture.org/post/96615907503/top-web-companies-join-internet-slowdown-protest-for

https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/get_ready_for_the_internet_slowdown_20140903?curator=MediaREDEF