Net Neutrality Repeal – Restore the Internet Freedom

If you are an internet enthusiast or you keep up with the latest news, then you might have come across the terms Net neutrality, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and even Mr. Ajit Pai in the past weeks. People who are not internet-minded may wonder what the debate is all about and why does it matter. Net neutrality came into the limelight in 2015 when it came into effect. This year, Net neutrality is also in the spotlight due to a series of events. The major ones started when the FCC Chairman Mr. Pai proposed net neutrality to be repealed. The other major event occurred on Thursday 14^th December after a three to two vote which led to the net neutrality repeal.

What is net neutrality

Net neutrality is a set of principles that ensure free and fair services from broadband and internet service providers. Net neutrality prohibits ISPs from seeing what we do online, controlling the internet in terms of service. Now that the net neutrality has been repealed, the opposite is bound to happen. That is, ISPs can block websites, introduce packages for service quality purposes and even slow down the service for some companies. In a nutshell, after it takes effect, its expected that the internet will lose the freedom that comes with it. We are going buy the freedom in order to access certain aspects. As for the general internet such as social media, everything will be just normal.

Why repeal net neutrality rules

Before the vote was undertaken, the FCC chairman defended the repeal. Mr. Pai believes abolishing net neutrality will give way to more developments that will benefit the consumers. “We are helping consumers and promoting competition,” Mr. Pai said. “Broadband providers will have more incentive to build networks, especially to underserved areas.” The chairman referred to the repeal as “restoring internet freedom,” and this will help ISPs to offer a variety of options and also invest in faster technologies to deliver internet. The vote reclassifies ISPs and broadband providers under information service and not under the telecommunication service. This means that the FCC will no longer regulate the ISPs and the role has been passed on to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Under the repeal, ISPs are expected to disclose what they will be doing to the consumers. It will be the responsibility of the FTC to oversee if disclosure has been done when ISPs will be doing the ‘injustices’ which net neutrality eliminated.

The impact

Now that you know what net neutrality is, you can guess the impact of its vice versa. The most anticipated outcome is that the ISPs will start to segment the internet. Like segmentation in commerce, some services will be given priority; others charged exorbitantly and other injustices including zero privacy. Since broadband providers will be determining what you can access and the frequency at which you access the content, they will start throttling and blocking your most wanted service in order for you to pay more. This will come as special packages in which you’ll have to subscribe to if you wish to access the content at your normal rate. Imagine how much you’re going to pay up if you like streaming your content online.

If the ISP knows what you are doing, this will lead to another injustice known as retargeting. As your ISP is monitoring your data and content, soon they will know what your preferences are through behavioral targeting. When this is achieved, you will start experiencing an influx of advertisements even the ones that you don’t have an interest in.

Another impact that will affect you is that your data may also be at risk. Since the advertising realm has a lot of money, your ISP may sell your data which they acquired via retargeting to companies who cough up the most money. This may also give rise to other risks such as breaches in privacy and other threats.

What can be done next

Even though it will take weeks before the repeal takes effect fully, internet-minded people are already prepared to defend what’s best for everyone, net neutrality. Before the vote, protesters were outside the FCC building to oppose the change. They argued that the repeal will make the internet less open and less accessible. Democrat Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also had similar thoughts, “I dissent to this legally-lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling, destroying-internet freedom order.” Since the vote went through, there are still other remaining options are still being utilized. For instance, New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman said that he would lead a lawsuit against the repeal. Other net neutrality supporters have also vowed to overturn the repeal using the same route; a lawsuit.

What can you do? If you can’t file a lawsuit, you can support team internet that in turn supports net neutrality and freedom of speech. To do that, head over to battle for the net and vote for an open internet.

How to protect your privacy after net neutrality

The best shot you have at the moment that will guarantee your privacy and the previous net neutrality benefits is via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). And not just any VPN, a VPN that stands for online freedom and supports net neutrality. Here is a walkthrough on how a VPN will guarantee your privacy.

When you connect through a VPN, your traffic is encrypted and then tunneled through the specified VPN server. This means that your ISP won’t be able to snoop on you and then you will eliminate all the injustices that come with it.

Although there are many VPNs, there’s one that will truly fit this position; IPVanish. This is because IPVanish stands for your freedom and this is manifested in many ways. For instance, IPVanish has a zero-log policy which means that none of your online activities will be logged in their servers. Therefore, even if a court order is issued that requires your information to be given out, they will have nothing to give out. After all, you don’t give what you don’t have.