This December 14th, The
Federal Communications Commission
plans on completely dismantling
efforts made under the Obama
Administration during 2015. The
decision made by the Obama
Administration and the previously
Democrat-led FCC in 2015
put strong regulations on internet
service providers (ISPs) which
were classified under the category
“common carriers,” subjecting
them to utility-style regulation.
But, recently, Ajit Pai, head of the
FCC, made a proposal to reverse
the 2015 act. This proposal will
reclassify internet providers under
Title 1 as “information services,”
disregarding any previous rules
and regulations that prevented the
blocking and speeding up of certain websites. This will kill equal
speeds throughout the net, known as net neutrality. With the reversal of the
2015 decision, ISPs will be able to block or throttle websites for
which customers don’t pay extra
money, called paid prioritization.
This means that if a customer has
Comcast, which owns Hulu, Comcast
can block Netflix and speed up
Hulu as a means to increase business in companies
under their jurisdiction. Internet service providers will be
able to create “Internet Fast Lanes,” speeding up people’s
internet based on how much one pays.
In this way, there are no benefits for the
American population by killing net
neutrality. The only result of reversing
the 2015 decision is for top companies
in the United States, which
pay and bribe our senators who are
supposed to represent the American
people, to make make more money.
A study by the University of Delaware
showed that a total of 81% of
students supported net neutrality. A
poll by Mozilla showed that 81% of
Democrats and 73% of Republicans
support net neutrality. So what about
the other 20% that don’t want net
neutrality? Other than ignoring the
people of the United States, Ajit Pai
defends the killing of net neutrality
by saying “the market will decide,”
whoever does the least throttling
will have the most customers, the
people will decide the price. This
claim does not apply when virtually
all big name internet providers are
paying to have the right to throttle
speeds. Many internet providers
such as Comcast and Verizon are
lying and confusing the people
in order to maintain the 20% of
people who support them. For example,
Verizon calls the reversal of
the 2015 decision, the “Restoring
Internet Freedom Act,” when in reality
it is the exact opposite. Also,
Comcast recently made a statement
saying they will not throttle
or block anyone’s internet, yet they
have paid tens of millions to have
the 2015 decision reversed.
The only way to fight this
proposal and the FCC is to make
our voices heard. Any of us can
sign the net neutrality petition at
change.org or easily call our representatives
in congress at www.
battleforthenet.com