Final Comments

I thought it would be interesting to wrap up this specific blog with a mini survey I conducted. I asked some of my friends, classmates, and co-workers what their opinion on government regulation of the Internet is. I did not give them a specific set of answers to choose from because I wanted to see what they said. As it turns out, I did not have to do much analysis of the data because the responses were overwhelmingly similar. Out of the 25 people I asked and recorded, I found that 23 out of the 25 want nothing to do with government regulation of the Internet, and the other 2 were undecided. What was interesting though, was the fact that along with their response that they do not want government involvement, almost everyone ended up reverting back and suggesting a minimal approach should be taken; for example finding ways to fight hackers, etc. 

This was obviously not an official survey I conducted, but it did make me realize that this question of government regulation is a very difficult one to answer. It is more than a yes or no answer and it is frustrating for people to come up with an answer they are satisfied with. I mentioned this in the last post, but these personal findings reiterate my point that this debate will be a long and continuous one. As long as the Internet is alive, I believe this debate will stay alive. So, what came out of this entire discussion on government regulation of the Internet for me, was that although it is a frustrating topic, take a second to realize what is at stake no matter the side you are on. It is a very important topic that will hopefully receive the attention and attentiveness that is needed to ultimately create the best policies needed to make the Internet more valuable for everyone.