Amidst the tumult and drama of the first months of the Trump administration, it’s been difficult to follow changes in policy. Among the changes that are already underway, however, is a seismic shift on net neutrality. The principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally is about to be undergo a radical break, due to the Trump administration’s appointment of Ajit Pai as the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Pai, a former lawyer for Verizon, is decidedly pro-free market and opposed to regulation, and he is determined to change the course set by the Obama administration.

Unfortunately, net neutrality is an issue that is already subject to confusion: Many people don’t know exactly what it means and what its practical effects actually are. President Trump himself has in the past referred to net neutrality as something that might hurt conservative outlets, repeating the mistaken idea that net neutrality regulates content. It does not. Such confusion, however obscures a very important, simple point: The debate over net neutrality is a debate over not only what our digital future should look like, but the general direction of the country going forward.

Coined by Tim Wu is 2002, net neutrality refers to the idea that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. That means that any company who provides internet service to the public should deliver, say, a Netflix stream, an online game, a video conference call, or a Spotify playlist in the same way. By extension, it thus also means that certain types of content—such as video services provided by a company that is also your internet service provider, or data accessed through a website your provider has a business relationship with—cannot be privileged over others. Additionally, particular apps or sites—such as those that might compete with your telecom company—are not blocked, slowed down, or otherwise hamstrung. The point is to ensure that one’s experience of the internet is unfettered by outside interests.

This is currently law of the land—but it will almost certainly change soon. Pai has already set in motion the process to repeal these regulations. But to understand exactly what’s at stake, it helps to take a look at how we got here.

As the home of the largest telecom businesses and thousands of digital companies, the United States has historically favored less regulation when it comes to the internet. For that reason, internet service was, up until 2015, classified as Title I information service, an FCC category that allows such services to only be lightly regulated.