What is net neutrality and why does it matter? How did it make a comeback, and are there are any downsides for consumers?
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Published on24 minutes ago
During the Trump administration, the United States officially rolled back net neutrality. Seven years later, the FCC has resurrected these policies from the dead. While net neutrality is back, there is still a lot of confusion and uncertainty surrounding it. Let’s dive deeper into the history of net neutrality, its current status, its pros and cons, and the future challenges it faces.What is net neutrality, and why is it important?
Net neutrality refers to a set of policies first adopted by the FCC in 2015 that essentially treat the internet as a utility, similar to water, power, and telephone services. It also means that all web traffic is considered an equal priority.
This change gives the FCC additional regulatory controls over the Internet, including placing limits on how companies can distribute Internet access. Specifically, they cannot speed up or slow down certain sites over others, as this could lead to seedy partnerships and practices that would impair the free and impartial nature of the web today.
The main argument for net neutrality is that it prevents companies from promoting certain sites over others or artificially limiting access to certain internet speeds just to make people pay more or to control which sites they visit. Back when Trump threatened to remove net neutrality, there was a lot of talk about how this was the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it.
There was a legitimate concern at the time that ISPs might engage in practices like extreme internet throttling, blocking access to certain websites, and creating paid fast lanes that would favor certain services or users over others.
Years later, there have been changes but they were pretty subtle. Some ISPs excluded certain apps from data charges or unfair throttling practices. Of course, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have gotten worse over time as ISPs became more emboldened, and so there’s still a strong argument for protecting the web.How did Net Neutrality return and what other changes might it bring in the future?
Net neutrality restoration is the action of a 3-2 Democratic majority vote at the FCC on April 25, 2024.
