In contrast to other generations, Millennials have grown up with the notion of all kinds of equality (for the most part) – meaning that they expect equality for race, sex, gender, religion and a lot more. They have strong opinions and have the idea that they can help the world. We want a world of equality of human rights.
Now, for a while already the Internet has become subject to being a human right. People believe that access to the Internet is a human right at this point because it is in many ways essential to life.
Now why is it essential to life?
1 – We have a right to freedom of speech and the Internet is the biggest and easiest way to express and share our opinion. Anyone can publish content online, give information about specific topics and also help others while doing so.
2 – If you have access to the Internet, you can get information about anything online. You can ask questions about topics or products and can get answers from strangers who are more knowledgable about the topic and reviews from previous buyers of a product. You also get access to news publications and books, you can learn new languages and other skills. Some of those skills might be essential to potential jobs you are trying to get. You can find jobs online, too.
At this point, the first thing people do when they don’t know how to do something or want to know more about a topic is search online! And since so many people do have access to the Internet, it would give people that don’t have access a huge disadvantage, which would not be fair.
Nowadays, there are also a lot of public WiFi networks at Starbucks and other coffee shops, at airports, and in New York even on the street with LinkNYC kiosks. These are great ways for people who are on the go, tourists and people that might not have a data plan for their phones or even have Internet at home to have access and retrieve information they need.
Now, last year the FTC tried to remove net neutrality and have been fighting for it ever since. What would that mean to us? It would mean that this exact right to access the Internet can be in danger. If net neutrality wasn’t around, carriers like At&t, Verizon, T-Mobile etc. could discriminate against specific apps, sites, services and even specific users! Doesn’t that sound crazy!?
Why do carriers lobby for this? Of course for the money! If they can get net neutrality to be removed, they can charge extra for those specific apps and sites and whatever they want. They can slow down the Internet speed for them tremendously and ask a higher price to access them. And there would be no limit for them. What people also have to realize is that not only can they charge much more, but they can literally control the Internet and its content.
We know that China has a huge censorship online, not allowing their people to use big giants like Google, Youtube and Facebook. And most of the world agrees that it is wrong and bad because people then can’t get the same information, news and connections as the rest of the world and also their world view is skewed by only seeing what the government wants them to see.
With the recent election and the drama surrounding manipulation and fake, targeted news, we have seen how something like this can affect people’s opinions and actions. It shows that if anything, the laws for online platforms and publications should be tightened in order to give people ALL the information and not a skewed view of the world.
We need net neutrality! And we need to have access to Internet as an essential human right that cannot be skewed and manipulated by big companies trying to change our views in specific directions or get extra money from everyone.
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