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Update: Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017 — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission votes to repeal net neutrality, the landmark 2015 rules aimed at ensuring a free and open internet, setting up a court fight over a move that could recast the digital landscape.

A telephone network owner can’t block the line if they don’t like what you’re about to say before placing a call across an old copper wire.

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This principle, called common carriage, is enshrined in telephone services as well as in railroads, airlines and, in countries such as Canada, the internet. It’s the backbone of net neutrality: the idea that all content should be equally treated when it comes to transmission speeds or access.

Canada’s net neutrality regulations are among the world’s strongest and the federal government has said it plans to keep them that way. But that’s about to get harder, experts say, since the United States is preparing to rescind the internet’s common carrier status down south.