As of now, paying customers of the United States enjoy the “right” to unhindered access to information on the internet with the subscription of internet service. Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, such as Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon, in addition to the Federal Communications Commission, are working to change this.

Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 and Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 protects consumers from ISPs throttling internet speed on certain sites by allowing larger corporations to pay premiums for faster speed on their sites. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, a government agency which regulates radio, television, cable, etc., issued the “Open Internet Order” in 2010, which prohibits broadband discrimination and blocking of certain information by ISPs, and demands transparency from ISPs.

In the last decade or so, ISPs such as Verizon and Comcast have spent over $572 million to try to crush the Open Internet Order according to a study by Maplight, a  nonprofit research organization that reveals and tracks the influence of money in politics in the United States. Since then, the future of ‘net neutrality’ dubbed by law professor Tim Wu in 2003, has been in question.

Experts from Broadbands for America say a repeal of the Open Internet Order will hit small businesses the hardest as they most likely will not have the budgets to pay for high-speed internet which will slow the traffic to their sites. In addition, ISPs will have the power to charge customers more to visit highly-trafficked sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Netflix and less to visit less popular sites such as Facebook, Yahoo, news sites, etc.

This past May, the FCC, which ultimately control ‘net neutrality’, began voting to start a process of rolling back the rules protecting ‘net neutrality’. Now the FCC is expected to vote on December 14th on a complete repeal of the ‘net neutrality’ rules.

Since the announcement, thousands of internet consumers have been outraged by the threat of losing open and equal access to information by way of the internet. Many are worried that this is a form of censorship.

“Theoretically, if the government allows this to happen, they are condoning this country moving to a new form of government, probably one that is similar to Russia and China, where their news is censored, just like ours would be,” said senior Hannah Marsh.

Others have expressed fear that the end of net neutrality will halt or hinder our ability to further descend into the digital age.

The creation of the internet “has dawned an unprecedented era of freedom of communication, entertainment, and knowledge…Those against net neutrality are supporting a push to take away the freedom of the users…this kind of interference will suffocate our transition into the digital age,” said senior Hannah Burd.

If you feel strongly about protecting the future of ‘net neutrality’, there are many ways you can exercise your civic duty to contribute your opinion.

One way is by directly contacting your representatives, who have the ability to stop the FCC. Battleforthenet.com is a website that allows you to input your phone number, and they will connect you to your state representative. So far, the site has already connected over seven thousand calls.

In addition, protests at Verizon stores nationwide are being held on December 7th to protest Verizon’s lobbyist puppeteering over the FCC, according to Snopes.com.

The best way you can help protect ‘net neutrality’ is by spreading the word to fellow consumers because this is an issue that will affect everyone regardless of the outcome.