Two weeks ago, there were major developments in the ongoing push for “net neutrality” in the United States, which would affect Internet use globally.

Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Tom Wheeler, released a proposal calling on “the FCC [to] use its Title II authority to implement and enforce open Internet protections.” This was met with renewed vows of support as well as sharp criticism from all sectors of American society, as the debate is being carried into the economic and political spheres of U.S. policy-making.

In layman’s terms, Wheeler seeks to preserve citizens’ ability to access the Internet without being charged for website visits and services, such as cellular and cable connections. This would be accomplished by considering Internet access as a utility, similar to phone service. If this happened, it would not be possible for some media giants to charge more for their online services, similar to how some TV channels cost more.

The concept of net neutrality has existed for some time, and U.S. President Obama campaigned on his support of it back in 2008. But as the online world becomes increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, the issue has also grown in contention.

In spring of 2014, the FCC introduced policies that were at odds with its chairman’s current stance to protect the open Internet. The FCC was forced to revise their policies after their introduction of “fast” and “slow” lane Internet packages and their deal brokering between content managers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) was met with public backlash.

These services include Netflix and YouTube, which account for 50% of all Internet traffic, according to CNET. You can imagine how much more profit-making potential lies in these online resources, and this explains the strong motivation of ISPs to revoke net neutrality regulations in favour of a subscription-based model.

The global ramifications of this debate should not be overlooked. Even in Hong Kong, half way around the world, we rely on U.S.-based online content for entertainment, news, business and personal use. Net neutrality aims to keep the Internet playing field level, thus promoting international information exchange and innovation.

In fact, the online world is fertile grounds for start-up companies and otherwise limited students or pioneering entrepreneurs to test products and gain recognition. If this were overshadowed by domineering big businesses, there would be less room for growth and ultimately damage the Internet’s creative side.

Consider us, TecHKU, the HKU Journal of Technology. We depend on cable, cellular and phone Internet connections for our website to be seen by our readers. If corporations, such as search engines, began charging its users, our readership would gradually reduce as people become less motivated to seek new sources of information.

As Wheeler wrote in his opinion article for Wired, “my proposal assures the rights of Internet users to go where they want, when they want, […because] the Internet must be fast, fair and open.” For the sake of global innovation and ingenuity, let’s hope it stays that way.

• About
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Lisa Utley

Lisa Utley is a first year journalism student at HKU. Born and raised on Canada’s west coast, she loves going skiing and hiking with her friends and family.

Latest posts by Lisa Utley (see all)

• Why Is Net Neutrality Important? - February 17, 2015
• Credit Suisse Internship & Coding Competition - September 29, 2014

Internship Opportunity at Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse Hong Kong, a leading global financial services company, is seeking students interested in technology for its Summer Analyst Programme. To be eligible you should be graduating between December 2015 and June 2016, and strong performance in this program could lead to a full time position after graduation.

The internship centers around technology in banking, and combines tech skills with financial information management. Interns become involved with many stages of a project’s life cycle, including application development and infrastructure. As well, there are opportunities to team up with traders and bankers to help solve their business problems.

Credit Suisse relies on new technology to improve the quality of the final product delivered to customers. This means successful internship applicants would be working with Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Development among others.

All interested candidates MUST complete an application on or before midnight, November 13, 2014 on the Credit Suisse website for consideration. You can view full details of the internship here.

“CodeIT Suisse” Coding Competition

For students graduating later, or anyone interested in coding, Credit Suisse is organising a competition in Hong Kong on the weekend of October 10-12, 2014! Participants will get a chance to interview for an internship with Credit Suisse Information Technology and win prizes worth a total of HKD 10,000.

If you are interested in joining the competition, all you need to do is…

1) Form a team of three to five eligible people. Each team must decrypt the following message and apply as per the below instructions by Thursday, October 2, 2014:

■ The following is encrypted with AES-256 and in base64, and the key is the last name of the person who said the quote below. Try to break it!
■ The base64 codes:
LbXS5WUSPUPwmbf1/EaQZ4Ex3aNlcszMGBVqjJk8OZ2e7FsVEHWeFil4v5KfMopbbWbSnhmxSObKywpWjx8F2g==
■ The quote: “They’re not birds! They’re keys! Winged keys.”

Once decrypted, instructions will be provided in the decrypted message on where to apply for the Competition. Each team member must submit an application by Thursday, October 2, 2014 including the following information:
■ Attach your CV and on the top of your CV, include the full names of all your team members.

2) Once you have decrypted the message and applied for the competition, you will be sent another more challenging message to decrypt for bonus points. Further information on this will follow upon application.

By entering the Competition you agree to the Terms and Conditions.

You can view full details of the competition here.

For enquiries, please contact- campus.recruitment-ap@credit-suisse.com

Good luck coding!

• About
• Latest Posts

Lisa Utley

Lisa Utley is a first year journalism student at HKU. Born and raised on Canada’s west coast, she loves going skiing and hiking with her friends and family.

Latest posts by Lisa Utley (see all)

• Why Is Net Neutrality Important? - February 17, 2015
• Credit Suisse Internship & Coding Competition - September 29, 2014