The internet, something so vast and useful, is used by nearly everyone. Currently, due to Obama era regulations most commonly known as Net Neutrality laws, the internet is available to everybody equally. These laws protect the internet from the corporations that provide internet access to the American people, and ensure that these corporations cannot deny or restrict access to any web sites. On December 14, these laws were repealed by the Federal Communications Commission, or the FCC. Without these laws in place, Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, such as Verizon and AT&T, threaten a fundamental principle of our society for the opportunity to cash in on the American people through the world’s most used medium.

Net Neutrality can be compared to the water systems. ISPs control the pipes that provide water to your house, and everything on the internet is the water that flows through these pipes. Net Neutrality ensures that ISPs provide the same sized pipes to everybody. Without Net Neutrality, ISPs can constrict your pipes, restricting water flow, or in this case, blocking some web sites to your computer. This would be the case unless, of course, you pay a very pretty penny.

Ajit Pai, former Associate General Counsel at Verizon and current Chairman of the FCC, believes that the repeal of Net Neutrality laws will “restore internet freedom.” However, he is mistaken because the Internet already was free. His actions, which allow corporations to block certain web sites, such as those of an opposing political opponent, would not only be the opposite of internet freedom, it would be a violation of free speech.

A survey conducted by the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland concluded that 83 percent of those who responded oppose the repeal of Net Neutrality. This may seem like a hopeful poll, but the decision to repeal Net Neutrality laws was in the hands of a whopping five unelected officials, one of which is a former Verizon employee. If you think the Electoral College is not representative of the American people, then the FCC’s vote should scare you considerably more.

Those in favor of the repeal of Net Neutrality argue that because the data that is sent to your home can be treated differently, your overall internet experience will be better. For example, ISPs can slow down certain network traffic in order to speed up other network traffic. By slowing down, say, an email which does not need to load as fast as possible, ISPs can speed other traffic, such as a movie being streamed on Netflix. When this is used tactically, it is very beneficial for the consumers. But at the same time, ISPs would have the power to lock certain web sites behind paywalls. Learning from past experiences, the profit-driven ISPs cannot be trusted. In 1992, the federal government started a program to give companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink taxpayer money to build a fiber optic infrastructure that would provide Americans with internet speeds of 1000 Mbps (Megabytes per second). Since then, over four hundred million dollars’ worth of taxpayer money has been allocated to this project, and the ISPs involved have nothing to show for it. According to Akamai, an American content delivery network, the average internet speed in the United States is only 18.7 Mbps. With this four hundred million dollar false promise hanging over the heads of taxpayers, ISPs cannot be trusted by the American people.

However, there is hope on the horizon. Some members of Congress are looking to reverse the FCCs decision. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has gathered the votes of 30 Senators, enough to force a vote on the FCC ruling, as is allowed under the Congressional Review Act. According to the act, only a simple majority of 50 votes is required to get past the Senate. This initial action could signal that Congress may right the FCC’s move.

Although federal laws have not kept up with the internet, it has developed exponentially since its creation, being involved in more and more of our lives each day to the point that it has become a public utility. As a result, the internet access must be regulated by the government to protect consumers. Bill Gates once said, “The internet is becoming the town square for the village of tomorrow.” If the future of the internet is without Net Neutrality, then our town square might as well have a wall surrounding it.