Today, Thursday, December 14, the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality by a 3-2 vote. Supporters of Net Neutrality warn internet users that the end of the Obama-era dooms internet freedom.

To Break It Down

Net Neutrality is quite simply the freedoms and rights users have on the internet. Things like Twitter or Youtube are free for all internet users to access. This is because internet providers were under law to treat all data on the internet equally. It was illegal to treat any user, website or platform differently. Charging certain users or providers to be able to access certain platforms was another illicit action.

What This Means for Internet Users

Internet providers such as AT&T and Comcast now have the right to slow down any speed based network such as Netflix, Spotify and even Google platforms to users who do not pay to enter the “fast lane.”

Even though it is too early to tell what actions are going to be done, here’s what can be expected:

Degraded Service

According to ABC News, “Services that consumers use without paying a special fee to Internet service providers (ISPs) will not work as well because they will be excluded from the ISP’s ‘fast lane.’”

To put into short terms, this means if users do not pay an extra fee, their speed on specific platforms will decrease.

Costs Increase

Internet service provider have the right to declare higher prices on their programs. The reason being since the ISP’s are planning to charge more for services (Netflix, Spotify, etc), this allows services to charge their users more to cover all of the prices being dumped on them.

The repealing of net neutrality brings a new era of internet, one with possibly dangerous outcomes.