Clark Howard

Net neutrality: Make your voice heard on this important issue

Some of your favorite websites might look a little different today, as some of the giants of the Internet's giants come together in support of net neutrality. According to the site Fight For The Future, more than 100,000 websites, individual Internet users, and organizations are taking part in a concerted online protest "against the FCC's plan to gut protections that keep the web free from censorship, throttling, and extra fees."

What is net neutrality?

Net neutrality means you have the same access to any news site, opinion site, shopping site or basically any site without anybody messing with your access. It means your ISP can’t keep you from going to a site or slow it down coming to you because either they don’t like the site or the site won’t pay them money.

What happens if net neutrality goes away?

If net neutrality goes away, ISPs will be allowed to charge big bucks to different websites and threaten to ruin the surfing experience of those websites’ customers if the websites don’t pay up.

Is that all?

No!

The greatest danger here is to free speech and the free market. Because you could have a startup with a new idea to do something better and they may not be able to get to you because of these toll roads put up on the Information Superhighway.

What can you do to preserve net neutrality?

Go online and tell the FCC you want net neutrality to continue.

You must comment on the FCC site to voice your concern.

When you get there, click the +Express button on the far right to fill out the form. Be sure your name is filled out before submitting.

Why is this happening right now?

“The FCC has a chairman that is in the hip pocket of the monopoly telecom companies,” money expert Clark Howard says.

“I need you to add your voice for free speech and freedom in America!”

Listen to Clark discuss net neutrality on The Clark Howard Show Podcast