Every time I'm surfing the net for more information on Guitar Hero III or Craiglist's missed connections or something, I inadvertently see sites asking me to "Support Net Neutrality." Since it seems to be such a big deal on the intertubes, I decided to try to understand the issue.
Whoops! It turns out, no human being could understand it. I'm tech-savvy, and it's still complete gibberish. Look at this... who could honestly get worked up over this:
"At the IP layer, differentiated services code point (DSCP) markings use the first 6 bits in the TOS field of the IP packet header. At the MAC layer, VLAN IEEE 802.1q and IEEE 802.1D can be used to carry essentially the same information."
Ummm... I'm for this? Against this? My eyes go bleary, and so I cruise back to the Guitar Hero III tracklist. I mean seriously, Story of My Life, School's Out, Sunshine of Your Love, Sabotage, Suck My Kiss...
But I'm supposed to be writing about net neutrality. It seems like there's a couple of basic principles at stake. Like free speech. Both sides are claiming free speech. Rockers also claim free speech. Rockers like Slash, who plays you in a boss battle in Guitar Hero. Also, Welcome to the Jungle is on the game, continuing the tradition of crossing over great songs from GTA. Raining Blood by Slayer. Cherub Rock by Smashing Pumpkins. And don't get me started on Anarchy in the U.K.
FOCUS! Is legislating on Net Neutrality a solution in search of a problem, or vice versa? It strikes me that the saying "information wants to be free" is stupid. On the other hand, Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine is an amazing song. Black Magic Woman... quit melting my heart. And I don't recognize the Stevie Ray Vaughan song, but please Rock n' Roll, fill up my soul like Night Man.
Calm down! Intern, bring me a block of ice to sit on! I'm clearly not going to be able to think about net neutrality while I have rock pulsing through my veins. I'm going to go Rock and Roll All Nite (ALSO ON THE SET LIST!) I'll postulate more later.
