Who here uses the internet?

9 out of every 10 Americans, that is, and 3.74 billion humans. And every business that is not in the fields of South Dakota or Yellowstone. Although 11% of Americans are not online, every large and nationwide business has a website and a huge presence in advertising to anyone online, whether watching a DIY video or researching a report on the life of the Buddha. Imagine if you were online, with fairly speedy service, and you suddenly were barraged with service slower than emancipation. We want fast internet; we are an impatient species that will strive for perfection. When we lack this speed and perfection, we will become angry, irritated, and will see the flaws in the system we have created. We want speed, not slowness. This slowness and agitation could be the cost of the repeal of net neutrality. You may have heard this phrase thrown around sometimes, but you may not know what it is. Net neutrality is simply the barriers set by the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission, that block Internet providers, such as Cricket and Verizon, from blocking high-speed service from the websites of their choosing. 

The consequences of repealing net neutrality effect everyone, the blue-collar mechanic, slaving away all day – the office worker, spending a life in a cubicle – the business tycoon who must maintain stability with hundreds of workers. Every major worker uses some sort of Internet, whether in work or out of work. 95% of Americans have a smartphone, which requires Internet and service to fully use. If a user of an ISP, an Internet service provider, has some opinions that the ISP doesn't agree with, then the ISP couldn't change the speed of the service they provide. This was because of the rules net neutrality presents. Without these rules, there is now no defense against the discrimination a provider might wrought on its victims. An article from 2017, before net neutrality was repealed, reveals how ISPs violated net neutrality before. Comcast has blocked sites like Gnutella in 2005, and AT&T has blocked use of Skype, one of the most popular real-time chatting websites. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon all even blocked the use of Google Wallet, an online paying program, because of these companies' involvement with Isis, a similar program and competitor to Google Wallet. This was before the rules were taken away, so imagine how worse it will be now that the rules don’t apply. This is happening. This is now and forever. This is unacceptable. Imagine if Skype aligned itself with a political party that an ISP like Verizon opposed. 70 million users would be without what may be their only form of communication to close friends. Imagine if you are one of the 10 to 50 million who uses Googe Wallet instead of a credit card, and Google said something controversial. Most of the user’s money would become inaccessible, unless you went to the bank and withdrew it.  Do you agree with censorship and the enabling of corporation's greed? If you support the FCC's decision of repealing net neutrality, then you are fanning the flames of justice away from the FCC.

Though you may think that the speed of internet doesn’t matter, or that companies should be able to reward customers with high speed for using them, tell me this: shouldn't they be entitled to the high-speed internet they signed up for? Do you want companies spying on your websites, your history, your most personal researched topics, and selling them to advertising businesses, as a CNN article states? Do you want the reality to be slowed by the ISPs who promise high-speeds and by the ads the same companies caused to be specialized for you? 

The president of the FCC, Ajit Pai, has been successful thus far in his plot to repeal net neutrality. You may think that since it has been repealed, there is no turning back. This is not the case. Multiple companies, like Mozilla, which is behind Firefox, have already entered a lawsuit with the FCC and Ajit Pai in order to represent the people of America and to bring back the neutrality the internet once proudly represented. You can communicate to your local representative or Senator and tell your opinions about net neutrality. Many democratic members of the Congress have also filed a lawsuit against the FCC, so fueling the flames of justice towards the FCC will be helpful in turning the tides of a lopsided internet. The fight will not be over until the net is once again neutral and the ISPs give us the speed that we paid for and is set in contract. There is us, the millions of internet goers, who will fight for each other's well-being, and there is them, the faceless defenders of faceless corporations. I, a humble, one-in-a-million child, hope that you will be one of the former.