Do you love the internet?

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Do you love the internet?

Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly!
December 14th, 2017 9:37:22pm
4,333 Posts

Well, so do we! And we don't want to see it get destroyed by anti-net neutrality legislation.

Today the FCC voted to dismantle policies that treat the internet like a utility and regulate Internet providers so that they can't give preferential treatment to some websites over others. That's very, very bad news.

Wait, net.... what??

Net neutrality means that internet service providers must treat all traffic on the internet the same. This means that they can't speed up or slow down certain sites on a whim, and have to give all websites equal access to broadband in order to get to you.

If it's removed, that means that internet providers could speed up some sites and slow down others who can't afford to pay to be in the "fast lane", block content from their competitors completely, or pass the cost on to you as a consumer and charge you more to get to your favorite sites.

So how does this affect me?

Well, here are just some of the ways it could possibly affect you:

If websites were charged exorbitant fees by internet providers to get to you, that means that small sites like HP could significantly raise their prices - or disappear completely.

Free websites and apps, like Facebook and Instagram, may have to start charging you to use them.

Your internet could be billed like a premium cable package. So if you want to access certain premium sites, like Netflix or the Playstation Network or if you want to do high speed gaming, you'd be billed at a higher rate for your internet.

If your internet provider came out with their own video streaming service, they would be allowed to block you from using other similar sites like Youtube.

New start ups and app development would slow to a crawl if they couldn't afford the costs associated with bringing their content to you, which means less new stuff for you to enjoy.

Doing homework or any type of work online would be significantly harder, because there would be fewer websites for you to use as resources.

Shopping online to get competitive prices could go away as sites either go down because of high costs or significantly raise their prices to stay afloat - and researching the best products? That would be a lot harder too.

If your local restaurants couldn't afford the fees to put their menu online, you'd no longer be able to just flip to Google and call in for take out. Same goes for other local businesses.

Like finding recipes online? Or fashion tips? Your favorite bloggers could go offline as well.

It would be harder to find jobs, and connect with other people, and use all of the amazing resources that the internet has to offer.

Basically, it would affect you, as the consumer, in every single way.

What can I do to stop this?

Call your congress people!

The FCC already made their decision, but congress can still decide to keep net neutrality in place, and in order for them to do that, they need their constituents (that's YOU) to let them know what you want!

Calling is the most effective, but if you can't call them email them, tweet at them, send them a letter via carrier pigeon - whatever, JUST CONTACT THEM!

You can find your representatives here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

And you can find your senators here: https://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_correspond_senators.htm

You can find more information at savetheinternet.com and battleforthenet.com.

Or you can ask us, because we will be happy to answer any questions you have and help you contact your congress people!

Please help us save the internet, games like HP, and small businesses everywhere and urge your congress people to KEEP net neutrality regulations in place.

We don't want to raise our prices, and we DEFINITELY don't want to go offline. We've worked our butts off to bring this game to you for nearly 9 years, and it would be heartbreaking if the end of net neutrality meant the end of HP.

So please, protect HP, protect small businesses, protect start ups, protect your wallet, and SUPPORT NET NEUTRALITY.

♥ all of you, ♥ the internet, and especially ♥ HP!

-Sam

P.S. Don't let this....

.... be the future HP or the rest of the internet.

View Comments 1

Alma ; ✨🌙 hiatus
December 15th, 2017 12:26:29am
94 Posts

Yes, this is so crucial. Thank you so, so much for speaking about this!

Alma ; ✨🌙 hiatus
December 15th, 2017 12:29:36am
94 Posts

The following states will also join New York in suing the FCC to defend Net Neutrality:

California, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Deleware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Virginia.

If your state is not on this list, here's what you can do:

Use this link to get in touch with your representative and let them know they need to take action: https://www.battleforthenet.com/?call=1