Nathaniel California

Net Neutrality in America

What will your impact be on the protection of your citizens' basic rights?

Dear Future President,

I know there are more pressing human rights issues, but have you thought about the right to access the internet? Has this even crossed your mind? The basic right to the instantaneous access of information is a new concept, but it will never go away. Net neutrality or the fight against unlawful surveillance and fair access to the internet will balloon to become the largest political topic in the next twenty years.

From what I can tell with all candidates in the election none of them have even mentioned either the Snowden situation or how they will handle surveillance for the future. This is very disgruntling in the way that it seems that the unlawful surveillance of personal data and the breaching of our citizens' basic right to privacy will continue to happen.

It comes down to the basic concept of popular sovereignty; the government's sole role is to protect the rights of the people while staying in the favor of the people. How can you protect our rights while continuously colluding with tech giants to break them? Will you as Commander-In-Chief be able to control agencies like the NSA and CIA to not peek into the private lives of the citizens? When you are the most powerful person in the executive branch, what impact will you have on this pressing issue?

Possible solutions have been thought up time and time again, and all of them have their flaws. Can you recognize the most heuristic and appropriate policy to our protection of privacy? Please take these words into consideration over the next four to possibly eight years.

Sincerely,

A student in California