This is an interesting and pertinent cause. Telcom conglomerates have been lobbying government regulatory bodies to allow them to impose special charges on web owners for internet access speed. Take for instance, Telcom company X makes traffic generally slow across all website traffic. Video or vlog sites that depend on high bandwidth and highspeed access will have to pay extra to get that bandwidth and speed up. Needless to say, preserving net neutrality would preserve the openness of the Internet. Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination. Check out www.savetheinternet.com for more info.
While you’re at it, listen to this interview on NPR with Eric Klinenberg, author of Fighting for Air. Essentially, the interview is a good summary of the book, which highlights the perils of media consolidation, its threat to the democratic process and also why the Internet, in its current state cannot be a substitute for print journalism (essentially, the Internet lacks journalistic integrity, credibility and resources).
It’ll make you think about Mediacorp, SPH and Singtel…
Tan Shou Chen 