Today is the fated day that the 5 board members of the FCC decided whether or not to repeal Net Neutrality. While it is known that two of the commissioners openly support Net Neutrality the other three would be hard pressed to flip to keep it.

While this article was put together, revised, written again, and painstakingly edited by our great editors the FCC is live talking all about it.

The current policies stop large Internet Service Providers like Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, and Verizon from deciding which website gets priority and which get put into the slow lane. Imagine Hulu, owned by Turner Broadcasting System which is a subsidiary of Time Warner, paid a lot of money to get certain shows that Netflix has. Assuming the worst, Time Warner, which recently went through a merger with AT&T to form Spectrum, could decide that customers that use Netflix should access this show much slower because Hulu is their company which deserves priority to for their profits.

In theory and what most people fear will happen, is that prices for basic access to websites will increase or be separated into packages. Paying for access to each individual website is the worst case scenario for supporters of Net Neutrality and has been a war cry at protest rallies. Countless memes and posts online have been created in response to the repeal already and they most likely will not stop anytime soon. Just because the vote has been decided the fight isn’t over. There are many organizations out there that allow you to take a stand against this repeal. Contacting your representatives and senators is crucial to stopping this as it moves through the courts.

If you watch a replay of the decision or are watching it live right now Commissioner Mignon Clyburn just gave a really in-depth dissent explaining all of the reasons why Net Neutrality is good and shouldn’t be repealed.

The real problem is that if this passes in the courts is forgetfulness and neglect. These companies aren’t stupid and won’t rush to throttle, gouge, and steal our freedom. Expect it to slowly become normal as your speed gets slower and slower, your prices slowly go up annually, and packages for premium style access start popping up more and more. The problem isn’t immediate; No it is slow and painful as we, the American people, are stripped of the freedom we already were assured. This so-called “freeing the internet” is a play on your emotions. Please contact whoever possible in your free time it will help before this repeal goes through.