Net neutrality is a right of the people

Fabienne Fleurantin/ Staff Writer

It’s official, everyone. Net neutrality is dead.

On Dec. 14, the Federal Communications Commission made their final decision, completely dismantling the idea of net neutrality and sweeping it under the rug.

“The agency scrapped the so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government will also no longer regulate high-speed internet delivery as if it were a utility, like phone service,” according to the New York TImes.

Why is this so important?

Net neutrality, according to Merriam-Webster, is “the idea, principle, or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination.”

In a nutshell, people of every creed and color have the right to post, chat or create anything on the Internet as they please. But with every creation, there is always a price — trolls and the like.

Yes, we know people have no lives and love to stir up drama for no good reason other than to instigate and push other people’s buttons. But at the heart of it all, that’s the whole point of net neutrality. To have the freedom to say what you want, to post what you want and have the right to express your creative desires as much as you want without anyone trying to suppress it, or at least not as much.

This death is the beginning of American censorship. One of of the most important statements in the First Amendment is freedom of speech, and the internet gave numerous people a place to be heard, a place to confront and create ideas, a place to have a voice on various platforms, including their own. Now, that voice is being silenced.

However, there may be a new bill in place to help solve this issue. On Dec.19, a GOP congresswoman decided a few days after this bill was passed that some action needed to be taken.

“Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) on Tuesday unveiled what she is calling the Open Internet Preservation Act. The bill restores two of the most important provisions of the FCC’s net neutrality rules: a ban on the blocking of websites, as well as a ban on the slowing of websites. It also includes the same public disclosure requirements Internet providers must abide by under the FCC’s decision from last week.The bill also directs the FCC to enforce the legislation by setting up an inbox for net neutrality complaints and adjudicating them,” according to the Washington Post.

Hopefully with this bill, Congress will see how important the internet and our right to freedom of speech is and put aside their differences and get to what matters — freedom of the masses on the Internet.

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash