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In this article, the philosophy of John Stuart Mill is applied to the notion of net neutrality. It is argued that Mill would support net neutrality, provided it does not come in conflict with the principles of capitalism. The essay posits that Mill would contend that net neutrality would be supported if it promoted the greatest good for the greatest number of people. On the other hand, Mill would be against net neutrality if it harmed others, particularly those individuals without market power. The article observed that Mill believed that the purpose of government is to ensure the welfare of the people. In general, the paper concludes that Mill would probably have supported net neutrality.
This paper argues that the use of backdoors in software is inherently counterproductive and leads to invasion of privacy, either by federal or state governments or by intrusive hackers. The essay outlines encryption’s nature, pointing out that a software backdoor is a secret means of ignoring data authentication. Several examples of known backdoors known to terrorists, criminals, and governments alike are highlighted. Arguments in favor and opposing backdoors are provided, where the Apple Computer, Inc. v. FBI controversy is discussed. Finally, the balancing of harms test as proposed by John Stuart Mill is introduced, where the article concludes that when balancing the opposing positions, the scale tips toward data encryption because an innocent party would suffer the most harm from the existence of a software backdoor.