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

In simple terms, net neutrality is the process of treating all internet packets equally; not discriminating who’s information is more important than someone else’s. 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 must pay a large amount of money to the internet providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T.

This should matter to all internet users, not just those of us interested in streaming music and videos. Internet service providers have the potential to bundle popular internet resources together in order to raise the prices of particular sites.

If the corporations like Comcast and Time Warner do get the chance to create a “fast lane” and a “slow lane,” 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. Since this ruling, President Obama and four million others have pleaded with the FCC to reclassify ISP’s into “telecommunication companies” instead of “information providers.” This would allow the FCC to regulate the internet under the stricter guidelines of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

“One argument for net neutrality is that it levels the playing field,” said Dr. Jan Lauren Boyles, Professor of 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.

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.

This potential two-tiered internet system could ruin the existence of the internet. If we allowed large corporations to control the internet in the first place, the “free and open” internet we have today would be 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.