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President Obama has been waited for to express his opinion concerning the latest Net neutrality debates. Net neutrality is the principle that says all Internet traffic should be treated in an equal manner. The issue has sparked an intense political battle at the White House and among Americans who use the internet regularly.
President Obama has made a video in which he expresses his views on the Net neutrality issue saying that the American economy is dependent on a free Internet use. He also said that Americans won’t let the Internet providers restrict in any way who can use the internet and at what speed.
Obama said that:
“An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life. “We cannot allow Internet service providers to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas.”
One of the main concerns of those who advocate for the Net neutrality issue is that the Internet providers in America will set up a “fast” and a “slow” internet speed lanes and will favor those who will pay for a faster internet connection. This will lead to a higher price paid for the content that moves faster. Those who will not afford to pay more will view content at slower speeds.
For example, although Netflix is a supporter of the Net neutrality principle, it recently made a deal with Verizon and Comcast in which Netflix agrees to pay more in order to boost the speed of their video content. Many companies argued that the Netflix deal will affect many on the long run. Netflix said that their deal did not lead to raised prices for their video content.
In his official video statement, Obama said that the American government should ban this kind of arrangements, known as “paid prioritization”. Obama said that these deals will only lead to consumers being “stuck in a slow lane”.
Obama also stated that the Internet provides should not be allowed to block anyone from viewing legal content or to slow down intentionally the speed of the video content.
