Net Neutrality Under Attack

The FCC’s planned revocation of net neutrality is a recent political controversy that has been prominently featured on both the news and the Internet. For those who don’t know, net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers cannot interfere with Internet speeds.

The Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC, is attempting to revoke net neutrality so that individuals can pay for certain websites and internet speeds. Behind the campaign against net neutrality is Ajit Pail, Chairman of the FCC. On December 14, the FCC officially voted to revoke net neutrality in a 3-2 party line vote.

This revocation of net neutrality will gradually but drastically affect all Internet users. Assuming net neutrality is eradicated, there is a possibility that websites will be forced to require users to pay to access the website in what is referred to as a “paywall”. In order to sustain the higher costs, websites would now face; for example, users would have to pay a certain amount of money for being able to use a website for one month. Furthermore, users would face greater difficulty in contacting an ISP in what is a less harmful but nevertheless inconvenient burden in an era for net neutrality.

But the battle for the internet isn’t over yet. In a last ditch effort to preserve net neutrality, net neutrality supporters have taken the FCC to court, and millions await the decisions of the judiciary.