Propaganda Art - FCC

Week three was a focus on how art influences others, from how its used in propaganda to its use in advertisement. We discussed WPA works, both from history to present day artists who replicated similar styles (Like Shepard Fairey), and then were tasked with creating out own 'propaganda' works that focused on an issue very important to us.
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At this very moment, our government is working against the people, looking to serve big business rather than ensure that access to information is guaranteed to every man, woman and child in this country. The FCC, or the Federal Communications Commission, currently led by Ajit Pai, is looking to destroy one of the most important tenants of the service we all know as the internet. This tenant is 'Net Neutrality'.

Net neutrality is the idea that ISP's, or internet service providers, should enable access to content and applications regardless of their source, ensuring there is no favoritism and that products and websites are not blocked because of bias. The idea is a means of regulating the internet in a manner that ensures all data is treated the same, that it is not discriminated against or being charged differently because of content, user, platform, etc.

This means that an ISP such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T can not speed up, slow down, or block content to serve their own ends. It means that Comcast can not throttle my internet service because I opted to use Netflix over Hulu. It means Verizon can not divert traffic from my freelancing website in favor of a service they support.

In 2015, users won a historic battle by getting the FCC to adopt Net Neutrality rules, establishing ISP's as Title II of the Communications Act, which brands ISP's as common carriers an unable to take advantage of 'Paid Prioritization', or the theory of 'Fast Lanes' or 'Pay to Play' services for internet access.

This year, Chairman Ajit seeks to completely reverse the establishment of ISP as Title II, which would give individual services the ability to charge what they want, when they want, throttling services, innovation, and the access of information in a time when information is key to making smart, educated choices.

We need a free, open internet. We need Net Neutrality.

And this is why I strongly support movements like Fight for the Future, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Open Media, amongst others. In an era of technology, we should not be throwing it back to the stone age.

#battleforthenet #netneutrality #fcc #fightforthenet #FightfortheFuture #OpenMedia #electronicfrontierfoundation