Net neutrality…what is it all about? The term was first coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu back in 2003. The topic of Net Neutrality has been bombarding the headlines for the past few months. Everyone is talking about it but no one seems to understand what it’s all about. We are going to give you the low down on Net Neutrality so that you can stop pretending to know what’s going on.

So put simply, net neutrality is….

Essentially, net neutrality protects you from big bad companies that want to control the content you can access online. Net neutrality is the idea that all internet providers will need to treat all traffic sources equally. This means that AT&T, for instance, can’t cut support for FaceTime and your internet providers can’t slow down your connection for Netflix. Companies that have an interest in promoting a certain service can’t speed up one service and slow down the other. This is all enforced by the Federal Communications Commission also known as the FCC.

So net neutrality keeps things fair and even amongst all service providers no matter how big (or small) they are, leaving us internet users as the big winners: we get to enjoy unrestricted access to anything we want online. We, the users control the content we consume, not the service providers.

Where are we at today?

On February 26th of 2015, the United States FCC ruled in favor of net neutrality by reclassifying broadband access as a telecommunications service and thus applying Title 2 of the Communications Act of 1934 to Internet service providers.

FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, commented,

This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concept.

Net neutrality is a go! To give you an idea of the proceedings that took place over the years, we made an awesome infographic that will give you the major stepping stones on the path to net neutrality.

A Timeline of Net Neutrality

Where are we heading in the future ?

Despite the good news that came from the FCC last month, we have a strong feeling that this isn’t the end of the road. The big providers aren’t going to give up so easily. They aren’t going to take this ruling with open hands and a big smile. What does the future hold? At least we know AT&T is going to put up a fight.

AT&T has commented on the FCC decision stating that:

For our part, we will continue to seek a consensus solution, and hopefully bipartisan legislation, even if we are the last voice seeking agreement rather than division. And we will hope that other voices of reason will emerge, voices who recognize that animosity, exaggeration, demonization and fear-mongering are not a basis on which to make wise national policies.

Where do you think the road will take us next?

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