Internet Regulations

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"The Internet was created in 1983 by the Advanced Research Project Agency Network for government use and was opened for public use in 1990. It was revolutionary, allowing people all around the world to communicate with other people via a computer. It was like the wild west, with little regulation, and rampant with hackers and scammers. The Internet remained this way until the Telecommunications Act of 1996 shifted the focus of the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, away from telephones and more towards the Internet. After that the FCC put increasingly more internet regulations, culminating in the 2015 when the ‚ÄúNet Neutrality‚Äù regulations were put into place. These regulations were subsequently repealed in 2017, sparking a fierce …show more content…

Most governments treat the Internet like they own it, imposing strict regulations and restrictions. Countries such as Kazakhstan and North Korea restrict citizens from viewing certain sites, censoring news sites, and blocking some businesses entirely from that country. The reality is that a business or individual can own a website, no one owns the Internet. The Internet, and any businesses using it would grow the best unhindered, as this would let online businesses expand without having to worry about unfair regulations. The largest online business, Amazon, started in a garage in 1994 when there were no internet regulations to slow them down. Google, the second largest online business was founded in 1998 before the first business regulations were put into …show more content…

In the United States, Internet regulations are created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC was originally established on January 19th, 1934 to regulate interstate television, radio, and cable broadcasts, but was expanded later to regulate the Internet and satellite communications. Another notable purpose for the FCC was to end the monopoly over the communications industry held by National Broadcasting Company. Ending monopolies over the communications industry is what the FCC is for, not regulating the Internet. The FCC is made up of 5 people who are appointed by the President, and one is appointed the leader, or head/director. The FCC comes up with regulations and the 5 members vote on it. This could be viewed as a violation of our democracy, while on the other hand it is fair, and that we need other people to make these decisions for the people. Regardless of what is right, Net Neutrality would probably still be around if it was up to a democratic vote and not the

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