Web Neutrality

bydoobie333

620 followers

8 years ago

I just received this email from Word Press Building Blocks and thought that everyone should have this info,

Why is Net Neutrality important?

Imagine navigating to the Wordpress Building Blocks site and waiting a minute or two for the page to load. Not a second or two -- a minute or two!

Imagine if that slow page load speed happened, not because of anything that I did or any mistakes that I made in choosing hosting and setting up my WordPress site, but because Net Neutrality didn't exist.

Your visits to this site would become very unpleasant and you'd stop visiting. My solopreneur business would be destroyed.

Now imagine an even worse scenario, Janina. . .

Imagine if it was your solopreneur WordPress site visitors left in droves because it loaded too slowly!

That's what's going to happen if Net Neutrality goes away, and politicians are poised to do just that.

If you're outside the United States, this may not be an issue that affects you at all. But in the US, it's a real possibility.

Now, I know WordPress Building Blocks isn't a political site, it's a business site. And you visit because you want to learn about WordPress to build your business site.

I don't get political in my business, but sometimes there's a political issue that has a huge impact on our freelance and solopreneur businesses. When that happens, like now, I believe I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't speak up.

Some websites -- the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Netflix, Facebook, Buzzfeed, and other sites that get thousands or hundreds of thousands of visitors and have millions in revenue -- they'll be fine. They can afford to pay the internet service providers exorbitant fees to make sure they stay in the fast lane.

You and me, not so much.

If Net Neutrality goes away, freelancers and solopreneurs and small business owners will be out of business. Think of it like the single toll lanes some urban highway systems offer. Those who can afford to pay the tolls go blasting by while you're doing a slow crawl to get where you're going.

If this is an issue that's important to you -- and it should be -- support Net Neutrality.

Here's what you can do:

1. Donate to organizations like Fight for the Future
2. Visit your Congressional Representative. To locate contact information, go to the website at http://www.house.gov/ and enter your zip code in the Find Your Representative box on the right. Click on your representative's name to go to his or her website where you'll find contact information, including the address of the local office as well as the office in Washington, DC. According to former Congressional staffers, showing up in person has the most impact.
3. If you can't visit, call or send an email.
4. Visit your Senator. To locate contact information, go to http://www.senate.gov/ and click the Find Your Senators link on the right. Select your state and press Go. You'll see a page with both your Senators' names and their Washington, DC office addresses. If you click the contact link, you'll go to the Senator's website.
5. As with the Representatives, if you can't visit, call or send an email.
6. Spread the word. Share this email, write articles, share on social media, let other freelancers, solopreneurs and small business owners know that Net Neutrality is a critical issue for our long-term well being and survival.