(Newswire.net — December 18, 2017) —
The internet as we know it might change drastically.
In a vote ending in 3-2, the FCC approved eliminating net neutrality, the rule which guaranteed consumers that some internet providers won’t speed up, slow down or block any content, applications or web sites they users to access. Until now, companies like Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, couldn’t choose their favorites among applications or sites.
Also, the eliminated rules meant that internet providers couldn’t sort their users in different categories.
The FCC members who voted for eliminating those rules, said that it was blocking innovation, but that move enraged people who think that killing those rules is giving too much power to internet service providers. Skeptics think that providers will now be able to affect the way we use the internet by slowing down or blocking some services.
Broadband industry promised they won’t change the way we access the internet.
Writing about this, the Wall Street Journal described the ruling as „freedom“ and that phrase was used later for backlash on social media.
The phrase #InternetIsFreeAgain is trending on social media and is used to criticize the optimism of the Wall Street Journal.
One of the two Democrats on the commission, Jessica Rosenworcel, thinks that this decision puts the FCC „on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of law and the wrong side of the American public“.
She also thinks it gives internet providers the green light to manipulate internet traffic, which is not good for consumers.
Meanwhile, opponents of this decision were protesting online and in the streets in America, because they fear that cable and telecommunications companies will be able to track what they see or do on the internet.
Also, those who are advocating net neutrality said they will try to go to court to stop the process of killing those rules.
The president of the FCC, Ajit Pai, a Republican, said that the decision of eliminating these rules means focusing back to what regulated internet almost since its existence.
He also stated that users will be protected and the internet will continue its growth.
But, nothing is still over as FCC’s decision could yet be challenged in court of Congress.