Alex Whiteside’s company can’t afford to compete with bigger brands like Netflix.
The 20-year-old UF computer engineering junior’s startup, Rile Inc., relies on speedy Internet for the services it provides, like interactive robots and live-stream videos that teach physics to middle and high school students globally.
Whiteside is one of many small business owners affected by net neutrality — the idea that Internet service providers should allow equal access to all content, regardless of where it came from, therefore eliminating favoritism by company or brand name.
After President Barack Obama addressed the issue in a statement Monday morning, Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz tweeted that, ”’Net Neutrality’ is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government,” a statement UF computer and information science and engineering professor Richard Newman said was ill-advised.
“If Ted Cruz really wanted the rich to get filthy, crazy rich, he would support the middle class and the little guys and the innovators so that they could float everybody’s boat instead of just trying to scrap up a big pile for him and his buddies,” Newman said.
Newman said he believes the Internet should be treated like any other utility and should be accessible to everyone at the same cost.
He added it makes sense to block sites that are known to be malicious, but warned that blocking should stop there.
“When you get into that, you start down a slippery slope of the great firewall of China,” he said, “or like places that restrict access of their citizens to information because of political and other reasons.”
Protecting net neutrality keeps the playing field even, Newman said, and will help support UF student entrepreneurs like Whiteside.
“This will lower the bar and eliminate barriers to entry into that world, which I think will have a positive effect on innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said.
Whiteside said he wants to expand his company in the next few years, and when he does, the protection of net neutrality will play a large role in the move.
“It would be a big issue if we suddenly had to pay large amounts of money for fast Internet,” Whiteside said, adding that Internet service providers should not be allowed to grant preferential Internet speed and access to companies simply because they turn a higher profit.
“They shouldn’t be able to say, ‘Oh, well Netflix pays us more so they get the faster Internet speed,’” he said. “That shouldn’t be legal.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 11/13/2014]
