On Thursday afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal the net neutrality regulations set in place by the Obama administration. This decision was passed in an expected 3 – 2 vote, despite the millions of Americans who stood in opposition to this repeal.
In 2015, regulations were established to protect net neutrality, which ABC News defined as “the principle that ISPs [Internet Service Providers] treat all content equally and not give preference to some digital content providers.” In other words, this means that the American consumer has access to all internet content which cannot be regulated by any company seeking to promote certain agendas or block information from internet users. Also known as the open internet, this was a landmark decision made to protect Americans and their rights to open communication and information on the internet.
Republican Ajit Pai, chairman of the FCC and longtime opponent of net neutrality, said this rollback would benefit American consumers, as it would allow broadband providers to provide their customers with more options. But despite the convictions of Pai and his two fellow Republicans who voted to repeal net neutrality that this action was for the good of consumers, most Americans are clearly not pleased with this decision. According to a recent survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation, 83% of Americans opposed repealing net neutrality, including 75% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats.
Despite the uproar that the repeal of net neutrality has caused, it is still not clear what this might mean for you, the average consumer, and your access to the internet. The main impact of this decision is that without the open internet, ISPs such as Verizon and Comcast will be free to control your access to the internet. This could mean any number of things, such as ISPs possibly charging you extra money to access certain “bundles” of basic internet websites like Facebook and YouTube, control the loading speed of certain websites to keep you from using them, or just outright block access to products from competitors or information they do not want you to see. Although it is unlikely that most ISPs will go to those extremes, there is still a high possibility they will start censoring and controlling the way you use the internet.
The FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality may seem final, but in fact the fight to protect the open internet is far from over. Advocacy groups such as Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, and the Free Press Action Fund are calling for Congress to block these new rules from going into effect. This could happen under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn decisions made by federal agencies such as the FCC. However, the CRA only allows Congress 60 days to act, and it would take bipartisan support from both Republican and Democrats in the House for net neutrality to possibly be reinstated.
This is where you, the American consumer, needs to take action. Fight for the Future is strongly encouraging all Americans to call, email, or text their representatives and urge them to support the CRA so that the FCC vote can be overturned. It is in our hands to hold our government accountable and let them know that we will not stand for allowing ISPs the possibility to censor our access to free and unbiased information and communication.
If you are interested in joining the fight for net neutrality, click the following link which will help you get started: https://www.battleforthenet.com/?org=fftf&link_id=1&can_id=f9294e9c28c3adedd6bcd68a8839686e&source=email-we-can-overturn-the-fcc-vote-3&email_referrer=email_276578&email_subject=we-can-overturn-the-fcc-vote