On Dec 14. the fate of Net Neutrality was put in in the hands of a five person vote, by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for its repeal. During this conference, there was a three to two vote resulting in favor of the repeal despite the overwhelming opinions against the repeal.
Before the voting took place many US citizens tried to fight the movement in various ways even to the point of threatening Ajit Pai, the face of the repeal of net neutrality. Multiple websites have been made to reverse the repeal, letting citizens call the FCC and Congress to express their disagreement with the vote. Yet none of this made any effect during the FCC conference. It seemed that the only opinion that was heard were the big companies who supported the repeal due to the fact that they would get the benefits from the outcome.
So that begs the question: what happened after the conference voted to repeal Net Neutrality?
Congress has been under discussion about the verdict of Net Neutrality and the senate’s Democrats are just one vote away from ending the FCC’s repeal. There has already been 26 senators that signed on a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. With this in mind, all of the FCC’s damage will be reversed and the US government will go back to the original regulations that the FCC put in place the first time around. Of course, even if they gain that one vote making it a possibility, there is also a chance that the Democrat’s effort of that getting that one vote does not change anything if President Trump chooses to veto the vote.
As for the public, it has been nothing but silent after the FCC voted to repeal the rule. The hashtags and videos just stopped. Look at the 2016 election, for example. Everyone was yelling at each other about why their candidates were more fit to run this country and what scandals the other candidates participated in. But after the election, everything went quiet for some time and many of the scandals were forgotten.
There is still action the public can do right now to try to make enough noise against it. BattleForTheNet.com is still open for anyone to keep sending emails to Congress, or one can call the FCC themselves and express their opinions on the matter. There are many ways for people to still fight for net neutrality, so people against net neutrality’s repel should do everything they can to preserve the internet that Americans have today. If the official ruling happens to be in favor of the FCC’s recent vote the best thing protesters can do is to keep the commotion alive and hope they are loud enough to keep it up for debate.
Julia Peralta // Graphics Dept.
