July 12th is a special and important day for the Internet, hundreds of popular well-known websites including Netflix are taking part in a day of action protesting potential and any upcoming laws which would destroy net neutrality. Netflix hasn’t announced exactly what they’re doing but at worst you should expect some interruptions in your streaming schedule tomorrow.
Below, we’ll take a look at what’s happening, why it’s happening and most importantly, how you can get involved.
What’s Happening on July 12th?
On July 12th, hundreds of web services and websites will be informing their customers of potential
The official website states: “The FCC wants to destroy net neutrality and give big cable companies control over what we see and do online. If they get their way, they’ll allow widespread throttling, blocking, censorship, and extra fees. On July 12th, the Internet will come together to stop them.”
Participants in the Net Neutrality Protest on July 12th
What is Net Neutrality?
Net Neutrality is a complex issue but can be condensed for a quick overview. In essence, what new laws propose is to not treat all Internet traffic the same. This would allow ISP’s to sell ‘premium’ traffic to websites willing to pay it. This would essentially create a two-lane system into your home where those with the biggest pockets will get you to faster.
Perhaps best to tell you about Net Neutrality is John Oliver:
Netflix’s History with Net Neutrality
For obvious reasons and with Netflix taking up a very large part of the internet’s traffic it’s clear how Netflix would stand to lose if net neutrality was lost. Already in recent years, we’ve seen Netflix protest against ISP’s from throttling their traffic most notably Comcast’s attempts.
In recent years, some Netflix executives have said that because of how big the company is, it would be able to afford the premium traffic much to many people’s disappointment. However, recently they reaffirmed their position on the issue and thankfully are now backing net neutrality.
What is Netflix doing on July 12th?
Some sources have said that the Netflix only plans on displaying a message stating “Netflix will display a message explaining that their sites could be slower because of the deregulation – but there is no plan to throttle the sites, as others may do.”
We reached out to Netflix’s customer support to confirm what Netflix will be doing tomorrow and we got this information back: “We don’t have any official information about this” adding that they recommend checking for official updates on the Netflix social media page.
So there you have it, everything you need to know about tomorrow’s July 12th net neutrality protest day.
