Summary of Deep Packet Inspection and Net Neutrality

Here’s a great summary of both deep packet inspection and net neutrality and why they’re important. The short of it is that if a company can inspect your internet packets, they can figure out what you’re doing. This lets them charge more for certain types of traffic than others. The companies will be able to use their vast resources of technical and number crunching experts to find the best way to nickel and dime you while keeping you from getting just angry enough to do anything about it. If you can’t imagine what this would be like, think of how Internet service is charged on cell phones now (per minute, or by over-all download) or remember what it was like before AOL changed the landscape by going to unlimited access for a single monthly fee (which was a major reason many people started to use the Internet). History shows that people don’t like having to worry about how they use a service and what the charges will be. Who has the time? What if every cable channel was unlocked and you get charged by how long you stay on any station, but you don’t know what the fees are (sure they’re in an agreement or pricelist somewhere, but you don’t memorize these things). That’s pretty much what the Internet will be like if Net Neutrality doesn’t pass.

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