I’m pretty far from a conspiracy theorist, and I can’t think of a single typical “conspiracy theory” that I subscribe to. With that said, most everyone would agree that the government does often do some pretty shady stuff—be it clandestine CIA operations or passing laws that are simply in the best interest of the politicians passing them. The latest brand of sneaky political maneuvers involves the ever-pressing issue of net neutrality.

Net neutrality has been a hot-button issue for a while now, and honestly as far as controversial issues go,  most people seem to either agree or simply not care. However, the push-back against the FCC here is strong. The internet is filled with people who want to protect their freedom to surf the web without having to pay, without having their information subject to the highest bidder and without turning the whole thing into an EA-type micro-transaction cesspool.

The FCC knows the mass majority of the public wants the internet free from restriction and having to pay toll-like fees to their provider every time they want to use a simple service like Facebook or YouTube. However, these service providers obviously stand to gain a huge amount of money here, so they have lobbied and “donated” and continue to push politicians and lawmakers (notably Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC) to repeal the current regulations protecting net neutrality.

The FCC is about to release details regarding their plan against net neutrality, and they are reportedly planning on doing this on Wednesday just before Thanksgiving, or alternatively in the midst of Black Friday. It’s a simple tactic that hits people while they’re busy with the holidays, and by the time the average person plugs back into the cyber realm, it will be old news. The blow will be tempered by time and distraction, and it will be that much easier to accomplish their quite obviously unpopular agenda.

If this was a more controversial issue, like the million other issues we deal with every day, they would not need to hide behind a holiday to do it. They would simply toss the issue into the gladiatorial ring we’ve made for ourselves and let us fight over it while they do whatever they were going to do anyway. However, with the generally unified front against them, the FCC is having to find new tactics to achieve their goals.

It is possible that this could backfire on them. Such a blatant disregard for the thoughts of people who rely on the internet as their daily source of entertainment and news could mean some serious backlash. Take away their fundamental human rights, mess with their healthcare or education, drastically change their taxes… it can be difficult to rely on your typical Redditor or YouTuber with these things. But take away their freedom of the internet? That’s something they might not let slide, though time will tell.

Featured image courtesy of the Associated Press