Use the “Removal of Net Neutrality Simulator” to experience an Internet without net neutrality

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Caleb Chen

The “Removal of Net Neutrality Simulator” is a new Google Chrome browser extension created by the good activists at Keep Our Net Free for education and awareness purposes which simulates an online world without net neutrality (NN) where internet service providers (ISPs) control and squeeze your internet browsing experience for extra profit. The extension’s functionality and stated goals are simple:

To demonstrate the impact of removing Net Neutrality, this extension slows your internet connection and blocks several websites.

All it takes is a few minutes of using the Internet with the “Removal of Net Neutrality Simulator” to get a clear grasp of why consumers deserve net neutrality. The creators of the dystopian simulator explained:

This extension shows you what the ramifications of this decision would be by slowing all websites except for “sponsored sites”, and blocking content those sites’ competitors’ websites.

Google Chrome extension shows you an Internet without net neutrality

reddit net neutralityWhen browsing Reddit, you’ll have to navigate through a popup that stops loading your desired Reddit page and suggested that you use the “ISP approved” Myspace network instead.

If you try to go to Google’s YouTube, you’ll quickly be prompted to try out Vimeo instead. Similarly, using Google Search will show a suggestion to use Microsoft Bing. While these might not be the exact scenarios that play out if net neutrality is killed by the US government, they examples are particularly illustrative. The “Removal of Net Neutrality Simulator” is just a tease of how bad it can be if NN is removed. In reality, instead of pop ups kindly suggesting that you use another site, ISPs could straight up redirect you or otherwise shape your traffic. If you are unable to buffer any Youtube video in a reasonable amount of time, even at 480p, because Google didn’t want to pay your ISP’s net neutrality blackmail fee, you’d have a clear disincentive to using YouTube and a clear incentive to switch to Vimeo.

This extension will raise awareness for net neutrality all around the world, not just in the United States. The fight to keep our net free is an international one. It’s true that some countries, like Canada, have enacted sweeping net neutrality protections. Other governments, like the Indian government for instance, have revealed their stance on the open internet over and over again with UN-disapproved region wide internet shutdowns.

It is ever important to fight for NN because nothing will be there to stop this type of anti-consumer behavior if the FCC removes open internet protections in August of this year. Currently, the plan by the FCC is to allow internet service providers (ISPs) to pinky promise not to violate open internet principles. While some ISPs have publicly stated that they believe in the general ideas behind an open internet, the actions of these ISPs reveal their true feelings. When allowed, ISPs have been experimenting with NN violating programs such as zero-rating. ISPs have even been caught specifically throttling p2p traffic in the past. This is why you must comment. This is why you must march. This is why, if you believe in the Internet, you must stand up for net neutrality.

Disclosure: Private Internet Access is a supporter of keepournetfree.org, the publishers of this Google Chrome extension.

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23 Comments

  1. Raleigh

    If Net Neutrality is abandoned I’m going to begin DOS attacks against these terrorist networks. If everyone just sets their computer to ping 10 or even 100 remote sites we can give them a time that they’ll never remember.

    6 years ago
  2. Juyeb

    Do these guys not realize pretty much everyone online now was online before net neutrality and know it wasn’t actually like this piece of propaganda?

    7 years ago
    1. Beorn

      You’ve got it backwards. Up until recently we’ve had NET NEUTRALITY (i.e. ISPs couldn’t throttle traffic). So the ISP decides to throttle Netflix, unless they pay more. Then Netflix charges its users more. Or if Comcast doesn’t like what the EFF is saying … they throttle that site. Comcast got caught doing just that a few years ago. And BECAUSE we had Net Neutrality Comcast had to stop their BS.

      7 years ago
      1. Juyeb

        There was no net neutrality laws in the US before 2015. If companies didn’t throttle speeds, all the bandwidth in the IP range would go to that one teenager who pirates a terrabyte of anime every day

        7 years ago
        1. Beorn

          LOL, per person is different. A customer pays for X bandwidth. And as the consumer I pick the site. Throttling the site is different than throttling my bandwidth.

          7 years ago
          1. Juyeb

            Yet under net neutrality, companies can no longer throttle P2P users despite the fact they use a disportionally large amount of bandwidth, slowing down everyone on that subnet.

            7 years ago
          2. Beorn

            Yes! We want to keep net neutrality! The FCC is rolling it back. So BitTorrent will probably get choked, and as you said other P2P protocols.

            They can throttle the user’s OVERALL traffic. But not pick and choose the content.

            You get that right?

            7 years ago
          3. Juyeb

            Which is bad. Certain users need faster speeds (like someone using an Internet phone) and other users should have reduced speeds so they don’t effect other users too much (like P2P users). Net neutrality does more harm than good.

            7 years ago
          4. Beorn

            No, it doesn’t. Just the opposite. Look suppose you have two computers in your home. And your network supports a given rate. Now suppose, on your client machine, you make two socket connections to your server. All things being equal each socket gets 50% of the traffic. Fair enough.

            With the lifting of net neutrality. You’ll have something throttling one of the sockets. You won’t use YOUR ALLOWABLE BANDWIDTH.

            7 years ago
          5. Juyeb

            How can you be so sure you are going to be throttled? They rarely did that and mostly just people who were downloading way too much.

            7 years ago
          6. Beorn

            Who told you that??? Do a search on “Comcast throttle lawsuit”. To see what they’ve tried in the past. Look at what the court said and why they lost.

            7 years ago
          7. Juyeb

            You know BitTorrent is really only used for one thing.

            7 years ago
          8. Beorn

            WoW updates and file sharing.

            7 years ago
          9. Juyeb

            The history of net neutrality is the FCC trying to regulate the Internet and being shot down for being overreaching. Until a couple of years ago that is.

            7 years ago
          10. Beorn

            Again no! The FCC, and most positions of power in the government, are headed by people in the industries they’re supposed to regulate. Look, believe what you want. I gave you links where you can get information. And double check what I’m telling you. Look at what countries like the Netherlands are doing with respect to net neutrality. Compare … sigh. Look I’m not responding anymore. Have a nice life.

            7 years ago
        2. Caden Austin

          You have this wrong. Prior to 2015, the internet was regulated under Title I of the Telecommunications Act of 1934. Verizon found ways around this and sued the FCC. The FCC then reclassified Net Neutrality rules under Title II of the Telecommunications Act of 1934.

          7 years ago
  3. Cyber Pagan

    Why do you give a shit if your internet is being “throttled” heck regulate my Internet for godsake, some nasty bullshit that isn’t filler goes on these “websites” let the ISPs win.

    7 years ago
    1. Bengon

      Literally allowing yourself to get cucked. Go ahead and pay 60 bucks for 1kb of internet lol

      7 years ago
    2. Setekh79

      Translation: “I want my internet service provider to massively hike up the cost of access whilst at the same time limiting both my access speed and the number of sites I am allowed to access. I don’t like being free so I want the internet Taliban to come along and take away my internet freedoms”.

      7 years ago
  4. Newcomer Steve Christina

    great post man.

    7 years ago