Net neutrality should be treated like the most important aspect of the Internet by all parties involved.

Allow me to explain what net neutrality is. It is the process that allows all Internet packets to be treated equally. That could be movies, YouTube videos, online games, e-mail, or video calls. There wouldn’t be discrimination between users or information. The Internet service providers, or ISPs, tend to give bigger corporations more attention when it comes to packet speeds. In order for Netflix to load so fast, they are forced to pay a large amount of money to prioritize its packets.

This should matter to all Internet users, not just those of us interested in streaming music and videos. ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T have the potential to bundle popular Internet resources together in order to raise the prices of particular sites. Companies like Netflix and Hulu would be forced to pay extra fees in order to receive what is referred to as the “fast lane,” while the rest of us would be stuck in the “slow lane.”

If the corporations like Comcast and Time Warner Cable do get the chance to create these lanes, we could see similarities between Internet packages and cable packages. Competitors would not affect prices levels because of the lack of broadband companies throughout the United States. This could lead to a more monopolistic system within the Internet corporations.

In January 2014, the former Internet regulators who were supposed to protect Internet users, the FCC, lost control of their power, which has opened the door for these larger corporations to set up shop and start monopolizing the Internet. President Obama has recently stated that the FCC needs to change the classification of Internet providers to “telecommunication companies” instead of “information providers.” By doing this, the Internet companies would fall under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, allowing the FCC to regulate these companies on a stricter basis.

“One argument for net neutrality is that it levels the playing field,” said Dr. Jan Boyles, assistant professor in journalism at Iowa State University.

By creating “fast lanes” and “slow lanes,” the speed of the Internet would be controlled by the biggest and richest corporations, leaving the ordinary Internet users to wait on buffering and loading. Just when you thought dial-up Internet speed was gone for good, suddenly it makes another appearance, this time with the annoying loading noise.

On the other hand, an opposing argument sees Internet corporations as job creators. Allowing the government to become more involved in the regulation process may prohibit telecommunication companies from becoming more involved in efforts to expand high speed Internet capabilities.

There have been four million people who have submitted their comments to the FCC about net neutrality. Disabling the free and open Internet goes against the founding principles of why it exists—creation and innovation of ideas and organizations that can help further the growth of our society.

I believe net neutrality is very important to college students and online learning in general. If this two-tiered system of a fast lane and a slow lane goes into existence, students may not be guaranteed access to necessary information required to gain knowledge in the classroom. It will also be detrimental to distance learning on all levels of education.

Since the original vote in January, there have been multiple websites created for internet users to urge the FCC to fight for stricter internet regulations. One of these sites, battleforthenet.com, staged an online activism ploy by covering the web in loading and buffering icons to cause curiosity in uninformed internet users.

Another tactic to spread awareness came on September 10, 2014. It was announced to be “Internet slowdown day.” Multiple companies came together to join this protest, the biggest name being Netflix, along with Etsy, Mozilla Firefox and Reddit.

Having a free and open internet is necessary for the growth of the Internet. If corporations were speeding up and slowing down the Internet constantly, the e-communities we have today would be almost non-existent. Yes, we did at one point live in a world without Google and Netflix, but I believe the world we live in now is better off having a more regulated Internet.