To Whom it may Concern,

I am writing this message to express my concerns regarding the FCC's plans to remove the policies currently in place which ensure a fair and open playing-field for all internet users. I do not feel that Chairman Pai's plans will work and would like to discuss a few reasons why.

Chairman Pai would like to remove Title II and other protections from internet use in order to reduce the number of regulations burdening ISPs and, therefore, allow their businesses to have a fuller range of options available to make the largest profit and grow as companies beyond their current status. I agree with this in principle; regulations too heavy can kill businesses and discourage innovation and entrepreneurship due to the strict requirements placed on businesses by the government. This is  the reason why America and its capitalist system are great; the ability for entrepreneurs to take action and build businesses with minimal government interference allows for competition and lets industry mold to follow the market demand.

However, I ask you to please reconsider the policy changes supported by Chairman Pai. As I am sure that you have received thousands of messages similar to this one discussing how such a change allows for throttling of internet to businesses and websites which refuse to pay a premium, and how this hurts small business owners, so I will skip discussing these. I do however urge you to consider the less-immediate impacts of this change - namely, how burdening the internet may limit its base of users and, as a result, stifle the advancements the world will make in the future as a united community in pursuit of great things.

In its current state, the internet has become widely available beyond professionals and upper-class citizens able to afford such luxuries. As we have seen with the rise of smartphones and data plans, even low-income families make internet access a priority in order to submit job applications, obtain electronic coupons to buy food and clothes, and provide some entertainment to make life just a bit more enjoyable.

As a result, the internet is populated by hundreds of thousands of small communities of people from different groups who can all freely express themselves and create incredible content for all to enjoy. I fear that, as a long-term consequence of removing the policies preventing ISPs from throttling specific sites and businesses who refuse to pay for premiums, we will see a decline in the use of the internet by everyday citizens. If access to certain parts of the internet is made difficult or hidden behind a paywall, what is the point of even purchasing internet access or using the internet anyways? Time is money, and I, for one, do not have time to stand around waiting for a website to load at a slow speed. There are other, more productive ways to use that extra waiting time, so many of the benefits the internet provided will have to be ignored and lost in favor of parts of life of higher priority. I think that many internet users can agree in this regard.

And certainly, much of the content people create on the internet for enjoyment is mindless and unnecessary, however, oft overlooked, the internet does more than post dumb videos and memes. Collaboratively, we form, the single most powerful group for advancing the human experience.

At the bottom of this message, I provide a list of different collaborative efforts put forth by internet users and communities. However this list is, by no means, a complete one. As I do not wish to take too much of your time, I will only discuss the one internet community effort which has stuck with me for years now and stands, to me, as a testament of how powerful the internet community is when we collaborate.

In 2011, Congress introduced two pieces of legislation in an attempt to combat the growing internet piracy problem from outside the US; the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Due to how these bills were written, there was fear by many internet users that they may infringe upon the constitutional freedoms of individuals, communities, and businesses by allowing for the restriction of free speech and censorship of content by the government. This fear arose from the bills' allowance of the US government to essentially eliminate sites for US viewership by cutting them off from search engines, preventing browsers from navigating to them, and restricting them from soliciting advertisements. 

The principles of SOPA and PIPA were well-meaning; however the implementation of those principles was poor due to the lack of a set of specific and well-defined policies for the take-down of sites. It gave too much leeway for sites to strike down other sites on false accusations or over use of content protected under Fair Use. As such, the internet reaction was huge.

Thousands of websites, internet communities, individual users, and businesses voiced arguments against the passing of these pieces of legislation in what was, at the time, one of the largest internet protests ever. In the end, the bills were placed on an indefinite postponement for review and revision of the issues raised. It was a major victory for many constitutionalists, large business owners, and internet users alike.

This protest in particular sticks with me due to the sheer number of people and groups who opposed the legislation. I never thought I would again see another government policy so universally hated by just about every user of the internet, this great and diverse body of people who disagree on so much. But in the FCC's proposition to revoke Title II classification of ISPs and other net neutrality protections guaranteed by the government, SOPA and PIPA have been far surpassed in this regard. I strongly urge the FCC and Chairman Pai to reconsider their decision.

Below is a list of some of the internet's most incredible accomplishments. The collaborative nature of these projects was only made possible by the far reaching availability and speed of the internet guaranteed by net neutrality enforcement by the FCC. Under these rules, the internet is not only available to all people, but the guaranteed speed allows us to find time to use it for these great purposes between the other important priorities of our busy modern lives. 

1. Wikipedia; a community driven, ever-growing knowledge base which provides information to everyone, including those who lack access to formal education. Without the large internet user base resulting from the guaranteed fast speeds and low prices ensured by net neutrality, such an important source of public knowledge would never prosper. 
https://www.wikipedia.org/

2. GalaxyZoo; one of many citizen science projects made possible through the internet. GalaxyZoo has users look at pictures of galaxies and classify them by their shape and features. This process is unable to be performed by computers, so citizen participation is necessary. The internet allows the program to reach a larger body of people. The research helps scientists to better understand how galaxies are formed and build our wealth of knowledge of the universe.
https://www.galaxyzoo.org/

3. Games Done Quick; a bi-annual charity event hosted on twitch.tv which raises money for various charities and non-profit groups. The event brings together video game players in a several day long gaming marathon streamed online for viewers to enjoy. Viewers donate in bid wars to see specific games at the marathon and purchase items from sponsors who donate profits to the event. In total, Games Done Quick has raised over $12 million over its many events. The events would not be possible were not for the collaborative effort of the large base of internet users setting up and attending the event, or the fast video streaming speeds guaranteed under net neutrality rules.
https://gamesdonequick.com/

4. Crash Course, Khan Acacemy, etc.; online educational channels designed to aid in the understanding of course material for students. In their successes on YouTube, they have been able to become independent businesses in their own right, providing jobs to animators, tutors, video editors, graphic designers, and many others. Without the guaranteed speed of video streaming ensured under net neutrality rules, neither would have been able to build the large base of followers which they needed to establish successful businesses and provide so many jobs. Additionally, these brands pioneered the genre of educational videos, paving the way of future education based content such as SciShow and MinutePhysics which, themselves, formed successful, job-providing businesses to the US.
https://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse
https://www.khanacademy.org/
https://www.youtube.com/user/scishow
http://www.minutephysics.com/

As stated above, this list is by no means comprehensive, however as this message is already long, I do not wish to take more of your time. I urge you, Chairman Pai, FCC employees and administrative staff, Congressmen and Congresswomen, and any others who have any capacity to impact the net neutrality decision to please step back and look at the great successes the internet has been able to achieve due to the protections provided to users by net neutrality rules and Title II classification. Stifling this creativity, this success, this progress, would be one of the greatest blows to the advancement and development of humankind ever. I urge you not to end up on the wrong side of history. Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Charles Devlin VI