Net neutrality will be officially dead in 2 months

April 23 is the day net neutrality is set to die.

The Federal Communications Commission's plan to repeal the Obama administration's open internet rules is on track. The FCC voted 3-2 to repeal net neutrality back in December, and on Thursday, the order, named Restoring Internet Freedom, was officially listed on the Federal Register.

Now it's 60 days and counting until the 2015 net neutrality rules are officially, fully repealed.

SEE ALSO: Get ready for the (legal) gloves to come off in net neutrality fight

The idea of net neutrality is all internet traffic is treated equally, but with the new order -- spearheaded by FCC chairman Ajit Pai's -- internet service providers like Comcast or Verizon can pay for faster and better access. This has the potential to allow for big companies to pay for preferential (read: faster and more reliable) service.

But don't despair yet. Now that the new order is posted, it opens the legal floodgates. Many lawsuits, from corporations and government officials alike, are challenging the new order. Before April 23, Congress could also come in and stop the repeal with a bill to block it. Sen. Ed Markey has the next 60 days to pass his bill through the Senate -- it has 50 supporters and needs just one more vote to pass. But even if it does, the House will likely vote it down.

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"The internet doesn’t belong to big internet service providers and special interests who want to turn it into a toll road where consumers will pay more while the biggest corporations get to ride in the fast lane," Markey said in a statement Thursday.

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Already several state governments have implemented their own net neutrality plans and 22 state attorney generals filed lawsuits to sue the government within a day of the posting.

Senior analyst Michael Fauscette, chief research officer at G2 Crowd, a review website for business software, said in an email, "There will be plenty of lawsuits attempting to put the protections back in place, so this is not over. There also is a call for Congress to step in and pass legislation to put the regulations back in place, but with a Republican-controlled House and Senate, it’s not likely to pass anytime soon."

He also warned about the return of so-called fast and slow lanes, which will "ultimately cost consumers and restrict the free flow of information across the internet.”

At a Conservative Political Action Conference panel Friday, Pai remained committed to the repeal, despite what he called "vitriol" flung at him about ending net neutrality. "It's not going to deter me from my mission of delivering value for the American people," he said.

Fellow FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said under the Trump administration the commission is "moving away from heavy-handed government regulations," a not-so-subtle dig at the Obama-era policies.

Net neutrality's death day is fast approaching, and the chances of pushing it back further or canceling it seem slim. What we're saying, though, is there's a chance.

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