The repeal of net neutrality will cause the greatest economic crisis and depression that the world has ever seen.
The second that a major telecom realizes that it can legally "compete" with Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, apple, Netflix, etc. By blocking their internet access ... It's all over. If an ISP decides it can get a better deal from banks by blocking people from accessing their accounts or from using their credit cards, then that will happen too.
VPNs, Tor, P2P, https... Any encryption at all really will either be blocked entirely or be segregated to enterprise services that cost more than you make in a year.
Small businesses and startups will not be able no innovate, because they will not be allowed to exist in the first place, because telecoms have no reason to allow them to exist. What will Apple's business model be when cell carriers demand "all the money" for every app store transaction, under threat of blocking the store and itunes in its entirety?
Why would a cell carrier allow internet access to chat apps and email, when they can instead force you to pay $1.99 per 140 character SMS?
And Netflix? Forget about it, even if they could raise prices enough to afford a "fast lane", they would still be banned from the internet out ofc spite. Even if you were paying $60 a month to watch stranger things, Comcast knows it would make far more money by eliminating the competition and forcing you back into their $120 per month cable packages.
This is a terrifying and dangerous shift in power, being spearheaded by Ajit Pai, who is frankly the worst American alive. He is obviously and overwhelmingly corrupt. His position is indefensible and his arguments utter nonsense.
There are trillions of dollars on the line. Just look at a list of the largest companies in America - all of which would be crippled if not outright destroyed if they were cut off from the web. A tiny oligopoly would have the power to make 20% of America's GDP vanish overnight -legally-. Not even the US government itself could negotiate against such a threat.
This is a national emergency. Net neutrality needs to be legislatively protected and the FCC needs to be stripped of the power to destroy America's most precious resource. It would be less damaging to the country to legalize murder. The importance of this issue cannot be over emphasised. Call your congressman while the telecoms still allow you to have phone service. (did I mention FCC regulations requiring landline services to be maintained and proven-functional have already been repealed? )