The fight to save Net neutrality seemed like an ongoing battle, but a light has been found at the end of the tunnel. On May 16, 2018, the Senate voted 52–47 against the order that proposed to eliminate Net neutrality. However, while this is something to celebrate and it is a victory in the Senate, now it will pass to the House of Representatives.
The United States Senate just voted to repeal the disastrous FCC decision to end #NetNeutrality. We must demand that the House does the right thing and stands with the Senate to overturn this decision. pic.twitter.com/DIFqtdYksr
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) May 16, 2018
BREAKING: We did it! The Senate just voted to protect #NetNeutrality.
But our work isn’t over. It’s time to take the vote to the House. https://t.co/4ZWOppiYLe pic.twitter.com/FJwTzgLLTD
— ACLU (@ACLU) May 16, 2018
The Federal Communications Commission and the Republicans that are in favor of repealing these rules that were established during the Obama Administration have gone as far as to call the measures that the Democratic party is taking to make sure Net neutrality remains instated as “political theater” and “scare tactics.” The FCC ensures that the internet without Net neutrality will be an unnoticeable change, but others would beg to differ and argue that certain providers like AT&T and Verizon will be able to block access to certain services and create what has been referred to as “slow and fast lanes.”
Simply put, the concept of the “fast lanes” is used to say that everyone on the internet should have a fair shot when it comes to what reaches consumers, according to Tim Wu, the man who coined the term Net neutrality.
However, in order to talk about today’s Net neutrality and its issues, it’s important to acknowledge that, as of right now, the internet is not very neutral at all. Big companies such as Comcast and AT&T are getting larger and more powerful by the second. Eliminating Net neutrality would enable their growth and could very well be the determining factor when it comes to who gets to control the information that reaches the public in a couple of years and simultaneously permit the monopolization of internet access and bandwidth.
However, despite there still being a noticeable disagreement within the government towards the fate of the Internet and what is truly best for all, many are celebrating this victory even if it may just be a small step toward bigger obstacles. For more on this topic, check out our previous article.