Net Neutrality Research Paper

Cindy Hoang
Professor Waters
Phil 192
Essay #1
Net Neutrality
Net neutrality has been a more recent, controversial issue in the United States lately. Net neutrality is the concept that all internet data should be treated equally, or “neutral”, and that the Internet service providers such as Comcast, Verizon, and Time Warner should not be able to charge more money to websites that uses a larger amount of data. The Internet service providers will also be able to control how fast consumers will receive content from certain websites and even have the ability to block access to certain websites. In 2010, the Federal Communications Commission had a concept for net neutrality called the “Open Internet Order”. Their regulations were simple. Internet …show more content…
“According to Aristotle, one has to think of oneself as a member of the larger community, the Polis, and strive to excel, to bring out what was best in ourselves and our shared enterprise.” (page 68).The Aristotelian approach appears to be in favor of a community where I believe that means everything should be fair and everyone in said community should do their part. Community is a sub-branch among the six dimensions of virtue ethics that also include excellence, role identity, integrity, judgement, and holism.There must be a sense of trust within the community where each person equally agrees that whoever uses the most resources, has to pay more. We can compare this to people who like to live a more luxurious lifestyle than others. If one wants to live in a larger home, eat at certain restaurants, and own more materialistic items, it is understood that they must pay more than their simpler counterparts. Aristotle would want charge the companies that are using more bandwidth more money if the intentions were to keep costs down for smaller businesses and individuals. Also, the Internet service providers would not be able to block certain websites to manipulate what consumers can see, whether it is world news or political issues. I am inclined to believe that Aristotle would want tiered levels of internet usage so consumers could pay accordingly to keep everything fair. The lowest tier would be for individuals that use a small amount, such as students. The logic is that these consumers use the least amount of internet, therefore they should pay less. The next tier up would be small businesses, like a restaurant and finally, the huge companies would be at the top level, such as Amazon or Netflix paying

Show More