Ideas For Second Essay

As of right now, I am not sure of the topic for my second essay. Initially, I wanted to use the growing trend among Internet Service Providers of imposing bandwidth caps and usage charges for residential users. I choose this topic because I am an internet junkie. I download at least two gigabytes of data a day. As a hardcore user, I am vehemently against caps and usage charges. My personal connection to this issue dates back to the mid ninties before broadband, MySpace and Napster.

It was a time when bulletin boards, chatrooms and IRC were the dominant social networking mediums. My Internet Service Provider was America Online. For a reasonable fee, maybe $10-$15 from what I can remember, America Online granted me access to the World Wide Web using the highest rate at the time, 56 kilobits per second. As I downloaded documents and other assorted materials (infer as you like), one key service issue was never made clear in all their fancy advertisements with 3.5 disks begging me to sign on. THE FUCKING USAGE CHARGES!

Those insidious charges added $1400 to the month’s phone bill. My family was furious at me, especially my mom since she had to find some way to pay it. I was a sophomore in high school and unemployed. America Online never made clear its usage policy. All those fucking ads with join now and get a free month bullshit suckered me. AOL could have a least displayed my quota and the amount used and had remaining after signing off as a courtesy to its customer.

After that incident, I was without an internet connection until 2000 when the broadband market opened up and promised faster service and unlimited access for a reasonable monthly fee. This business model apparently worked until a couple years ago when they began imposing caps and usage fees. The only American ISP I know of that imposes usage fees or will soon start is Comcast. I believe an ISP in the UK and Canada do the same. My own ISP, ATT, speculated that they too may follow Comcast’s footsteps.

This issue connects to a larger movement by corporations to further regulate what we access and put a bullet into Net Neutrality. The corporations hate Net Neutrality and want it dead. A decision is still pending on it in Congress. Perhaps it’s a means for ISPs to recoup revenue lost from legal fees when file sharers are brought to trial. Again, I’m not sure at the moment. I do believe these bullshit caps and charges violate the purpose of the World Wide Web which is free and open access to information.

I may stick with this until a better idea materializes.