This article originally appeared in the Valentines Issue of The Clarion, 2018.

Net neutrality was the law that forced ISPs (internet service providers) to provide equal service to all. On November 21, 2017, this rule was repealed by Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai. The repeal of the law now allows internet service providers to charge more or less for certain websites, apps, or block them all together.

If one of the most popular internet service providers – has a brand deal with an app or website such as Hulu, that company can now either slow down your connection to Netflix (a competitor with Hulu) and/or charge you more for access or faster connections.

According to a recent poll on The Hill, 89% of Democrats, 86% of Independents and 75% of Republicans supported net neutrality. So why get rid of it? Personally, as someone who uses the internet all of the time, I feel like this is a move for big corporations to make more money than they do already. By blocking or slowing down certain entertainment providers, people can be pushed to use a different source of entertainment or pay more for the one they are using already.

Repealing net neutrality would make internet service bills skyrocket, which would make everyone upset and angry. Who wants to pay more for the same service? Nobody, that’s who.

Imagine you were browsing online or on Instagram. Now imagine that instead of being able to view the posts, you see “This app has been blocked by your internet service provider.” This would make you angry or upset, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would, if you were wondering.

In the senate, the bill has a chance to be overturned if there are 30 co-sponsors who also want to bring net neutrality back. If the senate votes to overturn it, it will get a second look and vote.

It is surprising how many students do not know or care about net neutrality. When asking people what they think about the situation, many reply saying that they do not really know what it is or what it does.

This is upsetting to me because, especially in this day and age, everyone is always on the internet. Around 90% of teenagers use at least one platform of social media, like Snapchat, according to various studies. It seems illogical to stop certain things from being viewed.