Another problem with data discrimination is that search engines like Google might not yield the best information. It is one thing for Google to allow for advertisements in a separate section from search results. It is quite another for Google to only yield search results for paying customers.

Some ISPs claim that the consumer would benefit from value-added services to make the Internet faster or more secure. Yet the principle of net neutrality suggests that all users should benefit from such technologies. The basic protocols on which the Internet operates should not be elitist. Net neutrality ensures that all persons have equal access to information. Information is power; to restrict access to only those who can afford certain services exacerbates income and power disparities in the world.

Consumers already do accept the fact that bandwidth costs money. We pay a fee to an ISP because ISPs maintain the cables or...
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