Garfield Senior High School

The Future of the Internet

We all believe we can start off this new year with a fresh start and leave old things behind.  One thing that none of us wants to let go, however, is net neutrality. Unfortunately, for us, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to remove net neutrality.

This is a great risk for our country because once this act is fully implemented, companies such as Verizon and AT&T will have the ability to slow down connection speeds to certain websites.  The Internet plays a crucial role in our society, especially because we rely on it almost more than anything. Therefore, net neutrality must continue.

Net neutrality is the only way towards an open internet. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has been pushing the bill to end Net Neutrality since President Obama appointed him commissioner of the FCC. After the bill ending net neutrality passed, it was later revealed that Ajit Pai was not going to attend the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It was not specified why he was not going to attend the show, but it was soon revealed this was due to death threats directed at him and other people for “killing” net neutrality.

It has come to speculation that during the voting phase to pass the bill much of the population was in favor of getting rid of net neutrality, which led our representatives to vote to pass the end of net neutrality.  It was soon revealed by various news sites that people’s identities were used to cast a vote against net neutrality.

These were people who were acting as Americans although they were from another country and had no ties with the FCC. The controversy over the end of net neutrality in America has spread from California all the way to the United Kingdom.

The reason much of the population is against the end of net neutrality is because phone and TV companies like Verizon will have the ability to slow down and block certain websites and channels that conflict with their interests.  It is also believed that there will be sites that come in “packages.”

For example, a package to watch videos would come with the essentials at a cost, then there would also be additional costs for just trying to browse the internet. If net neutrality is officially put to an end, we’ll experience the end of the open internet as we know it. It’ll be the start of a new generation where we are limited in the information we can access.

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