As most of you are no doubt aware, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently unveiled their plan to completely repeal net neutrality protections. What is net neutrality? Well, simple: it's a set of protections that ensures that everything on the net is treated equally. It ensures that outside forces can't play favorites by blocking, altering, or slowing down what we see online. What would repealing net neutrality mean? It means that internet service providers (ISPs) would have the explicit right to censor or block certain websites, charge customers additional fees to use online apps and services, and slow down or throttle their customers' internet connections unless they pay more.

Sound bad? Well, it is. Very, VERY bad. But the good news is that we CAN stop the FCC from voting on this anti-consumer, pro-corporation plan. If you live in the United States, CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES. Congress has the power to step in and stop the FCC, and congress has to answer to the people. Don't know how to do it? Here's a couple sites that can help get you started, as well as provide more information:

www.battleforthenet.com/
www.fightforthefuture.org/

Are you like me and suffer from social anxiety that prevents you from calling on the phone? Email your reps instead. Or, use Resist Bot. Simply text "resist" to 50409, and Resist Bot will assist you in writing a letter to the representative(s) of your choice that it will then fax to them. No human interaction required, and it's super easy to use!

Tell your representatives that you want them to stand FOR net neutrality and against the FCC's plan. Tell them how losing net neutrality would affect you and others. We rely on the internet for research, communication, the free exchange of ideas. Let them know that the FCC would jeopardize all of this simply to give corporations more power. And don't just call/email/fax once. Do it every day, or as frequently as you can, at least. Congress needs to see a massive outpouring of opposition if we want them to act, but we CAN get them to. Remember, together we got them to back down on SOPA and PIPA. Don't sit back and watch. This is our last chance.

If the Net Neutrality did get repealed, I have a feeling there will be actual riots.

Oh, and I should have mentioned this in the OP, but it should also go without saying: DO NOT threaten your reps when you message them. Threats will only make them ignore you, and possibly get you into very serious trouble. Show them that you are intelligent, logical, and serious, not a maniac.

which is why we need to ACT NOW

i will certainly do my best to contact through on of these options.

This is implying that they actually give a fuck what anybody says and that they haven't been bought off by companies like Comcast and AT&T. Unfortunately folks, we're fucked.

Now now we at least have a chance to do something after all

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

I tend to agree insofar as Ajit Pai is only going to move for what Verizon bids him to do, but it is still important to fight this every inch of the way. More resistance makes this an "issue" that politicians will then have to take a stand on and makes it more likely that the next administration will take a more popular stance on the issue.

Protest can outweigh lobbyists, but only in the long term through following elections.

Even with 2017 being what it is, the FCC's hard-on for reversing this legislation is among the dumbest things that people have to deal with in this day and age. Carriers have to uphold non-discriminatory practices. It's patently absurd to imagine your carrier bullying you based on the items you've already paid for them to mail, but that is literally what the telecoms want to be allowed to do.

We wouldn't stand for it in a postal service. We wouldn't stand for it from the electric company. ("Now madam, these electrons are tagged for your small appliances like that toaster; any inbound to your new refrigerator are going to cost extra, or else our particles might have to take the long way around the grid, capiche?")

And it really is nothing but coercion. There is no ethical motive imaginable for the liberties these lobbyists want.

If it soothes anyone's soul I called my congressman yesterday about this. <_<;

We need to keep fighting this every time it comes back, it only has to get through once to make our lives suck harder.

Oh boy...
All of this is just fear monger
Isp's are not going to suddenly go all crazy and charge you what they what giving you a shit service once net [spoiler=Your connection to this website has been throttled. To load the rest of this comment, please subscribe to hypnohub premium]neutrality goes down.
Ok, so the key word here is "standard": No one buys those big ass Tv's from 20 years ago, so no one produces them. And no one hires a computer technician who only knows how to work on Pc's from the MSX era.

Without net neutrality Isp's are not going back to the ol' gud days; as long as there is an Isp that is not going full crazy, people's money will naturally go to those companies, effectively hurting those other mean companies who do whatever shitty practice they want just wanting more money.
[Tell you a secret? This is why capitalism produces actual technological progress; someone does something new and cool that can get some profits out of it (or just improving something already existing), and everyone else has to do the same or else they get behind. Shocking! This is the keyword. People will not pay for a bad service when they can get a better one (or/and cheaper) if available]

It's not a big science, guys, come on.
And guess what, without net neutrality, it's easier for small companies to get into the market where previously they were not able to reach since they don't have to meet all those restrictions.
On the internet side, net neutrality is a restriction that benefits big companies (like google, netflix, facebook, twitter, amazon) since they don't need to pay more taxes on their expensive fast lines and hardware(since 1gb cost the same to move, independent if it's a high-speed video streaming or .zip from an obscure file hoster, the former effectively slows down the internet for every small company (and you~).
I know, I know. Why I'm even bothering to say this? "Free the internet!!" Right?
"Competition" is a great work, this net neutrality stuff only handicaps it. Competition makes progress (real progress) and lowers prices.

Tl;DR Basically you will always have the good side of net neutrality because it's the market standard and ips that MAY go crazy doing shitty stuff will eventually get punished because market stuff. The pro of not having net neutrality is those small companies (isp's or internet companies) don't get devastated too hard by those big mean ones. And those big mean companies also don't get a free pass to use bandwidth as they want.[/spoiler]

This.

Without getting too much into the misinformation campaign above me, it should be noted that there is no market competition among ISPs. Most parts of the US only have one ISP in their area. If you don't like the way they conduct business, your only choice is to not have internet at all. There is no "free market" for the internet in the US. Hence, without net neutrality, ISPs CAN go as crazy as they want and fear no repercussions, because there is no one that can one-up them.

Yeah there are exactly 2 in my town and they are both well known for extremely anti consumer practices. It being caught between a rock and a hard place both of them suck and they are the absolutely only choices here.

You're completely glossing over local ISPs with your first two statements. And if you're calling it a misinformation campaign, you need to prove it. Otherwise it's [spoiler=Your connection to this website has been throttled. To load the rest of this comment, please subscribe to hypnohub premium] an alternate opinion that has facts that are inconvenient to you.

In addition, why is it that people automatically run to the government to bust monopolies, when they're the biggest monopoly of all?

www.forbes.com/forbes/wel...mp;referrer=#d447f5270d51

I happen to put more faith in a tech expert from Forbes, which covers socio-economic issues with greater proficiency than any of us on here, than you guys. No offense, but all your talk is ignoring that government causes more problems than it solves, and with deregulation of the telephone industry came cell phones, refinement of phone tech, lower prices, and improved connectivity that eventually included internet.

As for the current problems with Comcast and AT&T, they've been cutting deals with the FCC even during NN being enacted. In fact, the federal government will be more likely to collude with corporate ISPs to scratch each other's backs. Know how Comcast can boast that it has the fastest speeds? Its lobbyists broker deals with the FCC to give it the largest chunks of bandwidth in multiple areas across the country, which cuts out competition and allows it to reach those speeds due to having a monopoly on bandwidth. And last I checked, that's been happening even during NN being active. This is directly related to Imasuky's problem.

Not to mention there's reports of a revolving door between the FCC and Comcast and AT&T personnel.

Why would you ask for MORE regulation when the government is just giving you lip service to cover its own interests? Because that's all that NN legislation is at this point.

That's my input on this issue: NN legislation in its current form is a scam by big government/corporate interests riling up internet activists. Because it's really easy to "fix" an issue that you started with misdirection through inciting outrage, because then no one sits down calmly and investigates fully.

You're all being played, and this is the only time I'm going to advise you to chill and investigate for yourselves, because I'm sick of this discussion returning again and again. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm out. Have fun.[/spoiler]

Just like I hinted, one of the reasons that there is only one company on certain areas on the US, is net neutrality. Which is a restriction for those same ips you want.
And come one, those [spoiler=Your connection to this website has been throttled. To load the rest of this comment, please subscribe to hypnohub premium]areas are less populated, so who cares.(Also another reason why no ips are there)
Those monopolies can disappear easily if you allow new Ips to offer shitty services for higher prices~ You see? Then after some time those can become competitive markets, effectively lowering the prices and improving quality. Magic[/spoiler]