That’s what is going to happen if we let Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, go through with repealing Title II (AKA Net Neutrality).
Simply put, without Net Neutrality, Internet Service Providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will be able to “bundle” websites much like cable ON TOP OF paying for internet connection. “Want access to Netflix AND Tumblr? Get the Entertainment Package! $40 a month. What about Amazon and Ebay? Add an extra $20 a month to get the Shopping Package.”
Not only will they be able to bundle websites and charge more, they will also be able to censor and block websites that they don’t agree with entirely.
THIS WILL BE THE END OF INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT.
For business owners, it will be even worse. Ex: Comcast will ask Amazon to pay high fees to be available in a low-cost package, fees that websites like Poshmark or Etsy will not be able to pay. Therefore, only Fortune 500’s will be available to web users at a low cost. Say goodbye to Etsy (unless you’re willing to shell out $70 a month for the “All-Inclusive” package).
To learn about Net Neutrality, why it’s important, and/or want tools to help you fight for Net Neutrality, visit BattleForTheNet (https://www.battleforthenet.com)
There are five people deciding the future of the internet, three men (Rep) and two women (Dem). The two women have come out as No votes. We need only to convince ONE of the other members to flip to a NO vote to save Net Neutrality.
There are many ways you can help:
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE A LAZY TUMBLR USER WITH ANXIETY WHO TRIES TO HELP WITH JUST REBLOGS / LIKES:
Here are 2 petitions to sign, one international and one exclusively US.
(After you sign make sure to verify via email, it may take up to 30 mins to receive the email).
Text “resist” to 504-09. It’s a bot that will send a formal email, fax, and letter to your representatives. It also finds your representatives for you. All you have to do is text it and it holds your hand the whole way.
HERE ARE MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:
These are the emails of the 5 people on the FCC roster.
Blow up their inboxes!
Ajit Pai – Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Mignon Clyburn – Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov
Michael O’Rielly – Mike.O’Rielly@fcc.gov
Brendan Carr – Brendan.Carr@fcc.gov
Jessica Rosenworcel – Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov
You can support groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU and Free Press who are fighting to keep Net Neutrality:
Most importantly, VOTE. This should not be something that is so clearly split between the political parties as it affects all Americans, but unfortunately it is.
For all of Tumblr’s problems under Yahoo at least Yahoo supported Net Neutrality.
Fans created AO3 and my understanding is that Dreamwidth was not just created for fans, but that fans interests were taken into account. (Please correct me if I am wrong about Dreamwidth.)
Verizon owns Tumblr and they are one of the companies that has pushed hard to end Net Neutrality. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up making it difficult or impossible for people who don’t use Verizon to use Tumblr.
I am wondering if backing up our blogs might be a good idea. Unfortunately, searching with both Google and DuckDuckGo don’t show any currently working backup options. There is the waybackmachine, but that would take forever. Does anyone know of any ways to back-up blogs?
Also, where does fandom go?
With the disaster of losing Net Neutrality fandom seems like a minor thing, but when things are awful sometimes you want a place to relax.
As of the last tumblr exit panic, there wasn’t an easy way. You can do an import to a free wordpress.com site (and keep the site private, so it functions solely as an archive). But there are limits to how much will import, making that not a great option for humongous blogs. If you do that, however, then you can write an IFTTT formula (there is a stock one available) to add anything new you post on tumblr to that wordpress blog moving forward.
I don’t know if there are any newer solutions, though, since that was discussed a couple years ago. Given how often tumblr exit panics happen, even if The Worst hasn’t happened yet, it’s worth reblogging around to see if anyone has any new tricks for this.
to think about how different the world would look like if this hadn’t happened. There wouldn’t be a fandom, not fanfic, not any tv, film or literature. Perhaps others, but not what we have now.
On this day 130 years ago sir Arthur Conan Doyle first published A study in scarlet.
Please repost so that the world knows how important the 21 november is.