In abandoning Title II obligations, though, the FCC would no longer require ISPs to report such details as "packet loss, geographically-specific disclosures and performance at peak usage times, among other things." That refers to information like upload and download rates when the network is congested and the percentage of data dropped when there's a bottleneck in the stream. The FCC said "these additional reporting obligations unduly burden ISPs without providing a comparable benefit to consumers," and are "unnecessary and burdensome."

There are built-in transparency requirements about problematic practices. But they don't prevent ISPs from prioritizing content they like and throttling data they don't, nor does it penalize them for doing so. ISPs just have to declare what they're doing and explain why. This means they are free to carry out these activities, which were banned under the Title II order, so long as they disclose it. It would be like letting your partner get away with cheating as long as they explain why they did it.

Reverting to Title I classification places faith in ISPs to responsibly report what they're doing, and who knows? Maybe they would comply. Just know that there's already a long list of net-neutrality violators in the world, and most of these offenders are still in operation.

What's so wrong about throttling, blocking or paid prioritization?

You're really asking, what is net neutrality (again) and why is it important? Quick refresher: Net neutrality is the idea that, as its name implies, the internet and the companies that provide it should be neutral. Its speed or reliability should not be affected because of what you're downloading or whether your service provider likes it.

This means that the data you consume over the internet should be treated equally -- whether you are visiting Wikipedia, checking your email, watching porn or downloading manifestos. Your internet service provider (ISP) should not be allowed to slow down (throttle) your Netflix streaming or speed up data transmission from its own video-streaming service.

The crux of the issue here is fairness. It'd be like if your classmate was the principal's child and he kept getting easier homework and tests because of his parent's influence, and therefore, better grades. In this analogy, the principal would be an ISP like Comcast or Verizon, your classmate would be a subsidiary like NBCUniversal or Go90 (or even Engadget), and you would be an independent or third-party competitor like Netflix or ABC. Consumers would favor sites that loaded faster or offered a better experience, pulling traffic away from competing services and potentially putting them out of business. It could stifle competition, which would give consumers less choice over the services they can use.

Lack of competition is already a major issue when it comes to broadband services. In many parts of the country, people have only one or two options, and if you're really lucky, there might be three. When you can't pick an alternative, you're forced to submit to a company's pricing and features if you want service at all. Competition can also lead to better value, speed and ISP services for customers.

For example, if a cable company decided to do away with set-top-box rental fees to attract new customers, it could steal business from existing providers, which would have to come up with ways to retain their clients. This could lead to the entire industry doing away with set-top-box fees altogether.

Things get even trickier when you consider that ISPs are competing with each other and third parties not just on broadband, but streaming services as well. ISPs like Comcast and Verizon go up against Netflix and Hulu with their own apps (like Verizon's Go90) that are frequently inferior. If they had the power to prioritize their own products and slow down the likes of Netflix and Hulu or charge more in addition to those companies' own subscription fees in exchange for faster streams, it could force consumers to use inferior products.

Losing net neutrality could diminish competition (what little there is left of it), and give immense power to the few players in the industry, which is bad news for consumers all around.

Images: Aaron Bernstein / Reuters (Hon. Ajit Pai)