The other day, to much applause by the Internet community, Tom Wheeler announced that the FCC would issue regulations to ensure network neutrality. This Wall Street Journal article tells the story about how this victory was achieved. For startups and small businesses that are unable to negotiate special deals with ISPs this keeps the playing field level. It is a win for capitalism and the Internet.

Even something like the loading speed of webpages makes a signifcant impact on a business. That is why companies like Google, Amazon, and Etsy have conducted studies on the impact of page speed on their businesses. Lara Hogan at Etsy has a helpful overview of designing for performance that explains why they care. Key fact: after 3 seconds 40% of users will abandon your website. If you are not thinking about page speed you are automatically cutting out nearly half of your potential viewers or customers. That is why companies are rightfully worried that their websites could end up in a slow lane, and why people will pay money for services like Amazon Cloudfront.