Before you read this story if you don’t know what Net Neutrality is, please click the link to read my previous story keeping the Net Neutral.

On Dec. 17, 2016, the FCC voted to repeal the Net Neutrality laws that were first put in place by former president Barack Obama back in 2015.

On Apr. 23 Net Neutrality will no longer be in effect Internet providers will be given the freedom to do whatever they want. Some think that they will not do anything drastic, but back in 2014 Comcast was found slowing down internet speeds for Netflix users until Netflix started paying Comcast to get them back to normal speeds. AT&T had told app companies that if they paid extra fees then their consumers would be able to use their apps without losing data from there phones. Also back in 2012, AT&T had planned to remove the facetime app off of iPhones customers who weren’t on expensive phone plans.

Internet companies will also be able to data cap their customers, meaning that after a certain amount of data is used up you won’t be allowed to use the internet until you pay them for more data. They could also geo block their customers meaning you might not be able to get on to websites outside of the U.S. this all could be a huge problem for consumers considering that only 68% of Americans have only 1 option when it comes to choosing an internet provider.

There is a way for Net Neutrality to survive. 30 senators are needed to sign a congressional review act so that all the houses of government could vote on Net Neutrality. On Jan. 9, Senator Claire Mccaskill was the final senator to sign up for the congressional review act. since then it has arrived at the Senate where 49 democratic senators and one Republican have voted for the overruling on the repeal of Net Neutrality. One more Republican is needed to join them in order to get the 51 votes that are needed for the act to go to Congress. After it to goes through Congress, the President has to vote on if the ruling can change or stay the same. Also, there are 21 states who are suing the FCC over there ruling on repealing Net Neutrality. Not to mention at least three major tech companies are looking to sue the FCC as well.

There is no specific way to know what the future holds for Net Neutrality. All people can do now is wait and keep calling state representatives to voice our concerns over Net Neutrality and it might be saved, considering 75% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats agreed that Net Neutrality should have stayed. The people of America need Net Neutrality because without it there is no happy ending.