I subscribe to several genealogy services which help make my research a lot easier and much more productive than it was back in the old days. I am also a big fan of the free resources offered on the internet, like Cyndi’s List, Find A Grave and the great site run by LDS familysearch.org. All great resources – and so many of which are free, which is great if you’re doing research with a shoestring budget.

That is why I was very concerned when I opened my newsletter from Mocavo‘s Michael J. Leclerc and read more about a term which was new to me: Net Neutrality.

What does Net Neutrality mean? It means no matter how big or small you are, everyone has equal access on the internet. Net neutrality levels the playing field for everyone.  A small company has as good a chance at growing and succeeding as a larger company.

Take that away and we all stand to lose.

Michael Leclerc has written a great article about the decision by the federal courts which has dealt a serious blow to Net Neutrality:

One of the basic precepts of the internet has been equal access for all. No matter how large or small your company or your web presence, your ability to reach customers was the same as everyone else. This week federal courts ruled that current FCC rules maintaining Net Neutrality are illegal. What does this mean?

It means that internet service providers (ISPs)can now charge whatever they want for access. They are also free to make deals with individual companies to provide “fast” access to their website, while dropping other websites to such a crawl that one would not be able to properly use them. This will give these large companies the ability to shut out other websites.

This will limit the ability of new organizations to come along and introduce new products. No one would be able to see them. They would not have the opportunity to grow.

I hope you take a moment to read Michael’s article and (even more important) take the time to make your views known to Congress. There are links in Michael’s article to additional CNN coverage and also how to voice your opinions about the subject. 

If you have an opinion about this subject, please post it.

[Source: OnlineMBA.com]