Free and open internet is called Net neutrality. In 2015, the Obama administration brought in net neutrality protections. These protections are under threat of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The new chairman, Ajit Pai, appointed by the Trump administration, wants to scrap open Obama's protections.
This means, that internet service providers are allowed to slow down acces to specific parts of the web. Imagine that you have to pay a lot more money for services like Netflix, but also certain news sites could take 10 times longer to load for example.
On May 18, the FCC said it will support a new proposal to overturn the laws regulating the internet service providers. A 90-day comment period also began, with members of the public asked for their views. This period ends 17 July, so if you want your voice to be heard, click this link: https://www.battleforthenet.com/
Parts of Reddit are already standing up, they have messages up like: /r/technology, warning people about an Internet without Net Neutrality. I state their bannen post: “We’re sorry, access to /r/technology is not included in your internet service package,”
Off course, we don't know the consequences on steemit.com, but net neutrality is I think always better for every webpage there is. Let's help net neutrality stay alive!!
Source: http://www.iflscience.com/technology/heres-why-the-internet-looks-very-different-today/