Save internet freedom

I have noticed a trend in local media outlets that I find unsettling. More and more comment sections of news outlets (the Herald-Leader obviously not falling into this category) are disabling comments on stories that deal with national politics, but we are free to comment on the latest gas station robbery.

This reminds me of a Noam Chomsky quote: “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum....”

This trend is more frightening when you consider that President Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission used a loophole to let the right-leaning Sinclair Broadcasting Group buy up more stations than was previously allowed. Now consider that the FCC is poised to kill net neutrality. Net neutrality dictates right now that all internet service providers have to treat all web traffic the same.

If net neutrality goes away, Comcast, Verizon or Time Warner could decide that they don’t want you to have access to certain websites. People should be very worried about this regardless of political affiliation.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Save internet freedom."