Since the early days of the Internet as a burgeoning technology, an incredible and rapid progression from simple file transfers, to the “killer app” of electronic mail to the user-friendliness of browsers has connected billions of people to the Internet and the World Wide Web – even grandma.
Hi everyone – I’m Becca. I’m in my second year of the mass communication graduate program at Texas State University. My degree concentration is in global media, and my undergraduate background is in International Studies and Spanish.
If you’re interested in the Internet and World Wide Web at all and haven’t seen The Internet Behind the Web, I’d say it’s worth a watch if only to see a photo of Bob Metcalfe as a young spunky graduate student. No less spirited today, I had the opportunity to hear Metcalfe’s views on Net Neutrality at a Digital Entrepreneurship speaker series last spring. Spoiler alert: he’s against it.
But why?
Political ideology aside, Metcalfe may be heavily influenced by his first-hand experience with the history of the Internet. As a major contributor to Internet tech, he must have been keenly aware of the aftereffect of the 1992 congressional act that put the Internet in the hands of the people, opening up free enterprise and individual access. The subsequent Internet boom with the emergence of browser applications and the World Wide Web could understandably make a traditionalist wary of government regulation. Metcalfe witnessed the entire world open up after Congress relinquished control. It seems only natural that a person with this experience would be against seeing the government put its hands back on the Net.
This is a fear based on the Internet of the past. The constant and unavoidable commercial evolution of the Internet necessitates an evolution of policy. If you’re interested in the argument for Net Neutrality (which is in effect today), or you just like awesome videos, check out this segment from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.