Screencap via GIPHY.
Sites across the web today devote their digital real estate to protecting net neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission regulations that ensure every website can be accessed at equal speed and convenience. If you’ve visited Reddit, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Netflix, you may have read that these Obama-era regulations preventing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from charging extra for faster web connections are in danger, thanks, in part, to FCC chief Ajit Pai. The principle behind these regulations is that the internet, like water and electricity, is a utility that everyone should have equal access to. Without the internet, it’s nearly impossible to participate in modern society.
So, for a glimpse into the future of a net without neutrality, we’ve gathered 10 infuriating loading screen GIFs from artists like Alex Apostolides and Nikita Liskov. Spoiler: they never end. For more details on how net neutrality works and the specific threat facing it today, click here. But to feel the pain of a future without it, simply scroll on down.
And it is painful, believe me. I get enough of this painful already with Verizon, it does not need to be worse, but that’s what we all have to look forward to, unfortunately.
To learn how you can help protect net neutrality, click here.
There’s more at The Creators Project.
The *khm* ‘best’ ones (the first few on that list) don’t even have to move to be infuriating. I think it’s in their very nature, ingrained in the pixels of their creation, that makes them so, because I can feel the hackles going up and the patience getting short and the frustration bubbling up just looking at those.
In one sense, is this so bad, because wasn’t this daily life before (that is, the ‘aren’t we so spoiled???’ argument I’ve heard)? But at the same time, this will only serve to make an unequal world even more unequal. Also, internet cafes -- do they exist anymore? -- will be able to pay less for their internet as people spend more and more time using it due to the low speeds. And goodbye to easy access at the woefully underfunded community library.
I see nothing good here.
rq:
I had the same exact feeling. It was a lot like when I was still stuck on dial up and everyone else had gone wireless.
Amazing, the amount of emotion a funny little bunch of pixels can induce…
We’d just got fibre optic cable installed in the apartment when we moved out not far from the capital, but they don’t have the fibre optic opportunity yet -- and it was surprising how that relatively unnoticeable (to humans) difference in speed made me impatient again. (Incidentally, still waiting for the glass fibres to make it out here. DSL just isn’t the same.)
Fibre optic made its way to our tiny town, and Rick is about slavering over it, but we’re right on a telephone divide, we’re the last town still with Basin co-op and not long distance from Bismarck. West River, who does consider us long distance, installed the fibre optic. I won’t pay long distance fees, nor do I want to get locked into a contract. I’ve had to say this about a thousand times already, but Rick keeps trying to wear me down.
Uuuuugh, that is so ridiculus (sic)! <- The phone/long distance situation, that is. Fibre optic is excellent, but not if you're paying through the nose for it!! Funny, for us, the DSL is more expensive than the fibre optic would be. And there's a lot less fuckery with (mobile) phone communication in general -- there was great unrest earlier in the year when all mobile providers said they were hiking the fees (my monthly went from under 5 euros to about 7 and a half euros, no real limits on that except for data and I don't use it anyway) in order to eliminate roaming charges when travelling throughout Europe. :/ Anyway. It would be great if internet was actually considered a utility, but even that designation doesn't seem to have worked out too well for things like clean drinking water…