Speed Should Never Have A Slump

Dee Gordon is tearing up the basepaths this season and has more stolen bases than anyone in the majors.  So today, Dee and his cards will stand as my symbol for speed. 

Some of you out there might be wondering about that "spinning wheel of death" that you first see when ATBATT's page loads.  

I've joined in the fight for Net Neutrality - and believe me, it's a fight that needs all of us to participate in - because it will definitely affect the future for all of us. 

The FCC is going to rule this month on whether or not internet providers can separate the net into fast lanes, slow lanes, and super slow lanes.  The internet corporations will charge more for access to the fast lanes, in effect creating toll booths for internet access.

If you can afford to pay, your website will receive preferential speed.  If not, good luck to your audience.  They'll just have to pour a cup of coffee and wait for your site to load. 

Make no mistake, this is going to create a "Walmartization" of the net.  Huge corporations will thrive, while smaller outlets will wither and die on the vine.  

If the internet providers get their wish and the FCC allows them to create fast lanes, I fear the internet corporations will then create slower lanes for sites that represent direct competition to their interests. We saw the roots of this when Comcast slowed the internet speed of Netflix. 

Many of us started our blogs here on Blogger because it offers us free access to build a little niche on the web. If Blogger has to pay for access, do you think it will remain free for us? 

If all free blogging sites were super slow, would you use one of those sites? If you had to pay, would you have started blogging? How many other blogs or websites would never be born because of a payola system?

It starts with starving out competition for the dollar, and may well expand to slower speeds for sites with views the corporates don't agree with.  Are slower speeds based on political views OK with you ?  Or whether or not your site shows the occasional pretty girl in a bikini?

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled corporations are people. Bloggers are people too! Voice your opinion to the FCC and don't allow the corporations to leap over the rest of us. Aloha!