The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is due to vote in regards to net neutrality next month.
Currently, the Internet is in a state of net neutrality. Meaning, consumers pay providers a flat rate and can stream however much content they want. Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science at the University of Oregon, Reza Rejaie compares the current system to an all you can eat buffet.
Last year, the FCC had a proposal that would allow Internet service providers (ISPs), like Comcast, to charge in exchange for faster and more reliable service.  When this occurred, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden sent out a petition to prevent the plan, saying that only the big companies would receive benefits from the plan.
Once again Wyden has created another petition along with Senators Al Franken, Tom Udall and Ed Markey, in support of maintaining net neutrality.
“The big telecom corporations want to divide the Internet into toll lanes and charge big bucks for faster speeds. No big deal for big corporations that can pay the toll, but a terrible deal for the start-ups and small businesses that can’t,” Wyden said.
Rejaie says there are good points on both sides of the net neutrality debate. “I don’t think it is a black and white issue,” Rejaie said.
Currently, ISPs are left out of the market, and aren’t making the extra money for the service they are providing says Rejaie.
“They’re left in the middle, doing the extra work,” Rejaie said.
Rejaie did say that there is a clear possibility of the rich getting richer and the poor staying poor. Meaning, larger companies like Facebook, Netflix and YouTube would be able to pay potential fees for superior service, whereas smaller sites would get left behind. In addition, he sited the struggle that would lie in checking that sites are complying to the rules possibly put forth by the FCC.
According to Rejaie, currently there is not a clear plan as to what would happen if net neutrality went away, since it has never happened before.
“We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Rejaie said. “Nothing is simple in this context, everything is complicated.”
As for the effect of net neutrality on students, it is really all up in the air depending on what the FCC decides to do. Rejaie says students off campus would probably feel the effect more than those who reside on campus.
Rejaie does think that there could be a solution somewhere in between the two extremes both for and against net neutrality, with a minimum impact. “I see a middle ground, there are so many forces at play.”
Forces like Google, Comcast, AT&T, Facebook and large entities are all vying for net neutrality or for some sort of regulation.
Last year, AT&T promised customers three years of continuing net neutrality practices if the FCC’s proposal had gone through.
“If this was a black and white issue, it would have been resolved by now,” said Rejaie. “It’s interesting and scary.”