All Web Content is Created Equal, But Will it be Treated that Way

• By admin
• 6 September, 2012
• Comments Off on All Web Content is Created Equal, But Will it be Treated that Way

Net neutrality is an issue that will impact the future of small businesses and nonprofits in the coming years.

Net neutrality is already causing issues with large companies like Netflix and Comcast.

iPhone Searching the Internet

According to an article in the New York Times by Eduardo Porter, large companies are fighting over broadband caps.

According to the New York Times, after December, 2010 phone providers and other wireless Internet providers did not have to abide by net neutrality. This allows companies like AT&T, Version and Sprint to choose websites to download faster then others.

For a small business or nonprofit this could mean a large drop-off in web visits and an increase in bounce rates for their websites.

According to mashable.com, “50 percent of mobile users abandon a page if it doesn’t load in 10 seconds. Three out of five won’t return to that site.”

Mobile web browsing is growing.

According to the same mashable.com info graphic, “Twenty-five percent of mobile web users browse only on their phones.”

As mobile browsing grows and small businesses and nonprofits are forced to get online to get noticed it will be vital to have a quick web presence.

Some look at net neutrality as a form of government control that inhibits the free market and forces companies to allow content they find offensive or immoral.

Net neutrality will “force Internet providers to carry content they may prefer not to transmit, ” said Randolph J. May in his article on cnet.com

Others look at net neutrality as a protection against large companies controlling the flow of information from the Internet.

“If large companies introduce a tiered access system, with a tiered pricing structure, then the entire flow of information on the internet will be controlled and regulated by large companies with large budgets, leaving independent thought and free speech out of the equation,” said Tyler Siems, music blogger and photographer. “Without the free and unrestricted flow of data across the limited bandwidth available, I believe that the rapid expansion of technology and the free exchange of ideas that humanity has enjoyed since the proliferation of internet access among all classes of people will effectively cease.”