A Primer: Just What Is Net Neutrality, and Why All the Fuss?

Wednesday, 07 May 2014 09:44
By Joshua Holland, Moyers & Company | Op-Ed

The battle over Net neutrality is once again heating up. But not everyone has followed this somewhat complicated issue. Here, then, is a primer for understanding what's at stake in the fight for an open Internet.

Just what is Net neutrality anyway? Net neutrality is a principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) – and the regulators that oversee them — treat all Internet traffic the same way. The idea is to keep the Net free and open, giving users equal access to any website or application. Net neutrality would prevent companies that provide Internet access from blocking or slowing down traffic to or from specific sites in much the same way as a phone company has to put through your call, regardless of whom you're calling. Timothy Lee has a simple explainer at Vox. Rob Frieden, a professor of telecommunications and law at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a more detailed backgrounder on the issues surrounding Net neutrality. And Armand Valdez at Mashable offers an accessible, two-minute video explaining the concept.