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Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is a set of rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which say Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Comcast, Time Warner, AT&T, and Verizon, cannot block, throttle, or prioritize certain content on the Internet.

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Could This Mean Slower Internet for Schools?  Education Week Net Neutrality: Which of Many?  No Jitter FCC Votes To Restore Net Neutrality: A Win For Consumers And Democracy  Forbes Reinstating ‘Net Neutrality’ Is to Ignore Reality  Cato Institute Net neutrality is struck, ending a long battle to regulate ISPs like public utilities  Texas Public Radio | TPR Federal court decision won’t change California net neutrality law  Los Angeles Times The FCC’s Groundhog Day: The mistake of bringing back net neutrality  Americans for Prosperity F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules (Published 2017)  The New York Times What is net neutrality? Why a federal appeals court struck down the FCC rules  USA Today US court blocks Biden administration net neutrality rules  Reuters Net Neutrality Is Back, for Now  Perkins Coie Federal court strikes down FCC’s net neutrality rules  StateScoop Everyone is celebrating the net neutrality victory, but what the heck is it?  Pensacola News Journal US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net-neutrality rules  Reuters Net Neutrality Rule Goes Down, Other Regs May Follow  Forbes NAM: Decision Striking Down Net Neutrality a Victory Against Overregulation  New Jersey Business & Industry Association F.C.C. Votes to Restore Net Neutrality Rules (Published 2024)  The New York Times Net neutrality rules about corporate control over internet speeds blocked by federal appeals court  CBS News Federal court strikes down FCC net neutrality rules. What it means for using the internet  The Providence Journal ISPs Drop Legal Fight Against California Net Neutrality Law  Stanford Law School The Myth of Net Neutrality and the Reality of Network Management  American Enterprise Institute - AEI UPDATE: Net Neutrality Open Internet Order Set Aside  Davis Wright Tremaine How Big Tech Uses Net Neutrality To Subvert Competition  promarket.org FCC Reinstates Net Neutrality Rules  Wiley Rein What Is Net Neutrality? Myths and Realities  freepress.net Net Neutrality is Back: A Legal Perspective on the FCC’s Recent Vote to Reinstate Neutrality  Spencer Fane Net Neutrality Is Dead (Again). Journalism Could Suffer.  Columbia Journalism Review Net neutrality is back as FCC votes to regulate internet providers  CNN Court blocks FCC’s net neutrality rules from going into effect again  StateScoop Court Pulls Plug on Net Neutrality  Tech Policy Press President Biden: The Time To Restore Net Neutrality Is Now  American Civil Liberties Union Odds that Congress takes on network neutrality rules 'are zero' – analyst  Light Reading FCC Moves to Revive Net Neutrality Rules, Setting Up Another Lengthy Regulatory Battle  Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Net Neutrality Is and Has Always Been a Bipartisan Issue  New America Net Neutrality Ruling Foreshadows an FCC Defeat on Privacy Rule  Bloomberg Law News The Sixth Circuit Stays the FCC’s Latest Net Neutrality Flip-Flop  The Federalist Society 'Net neutrality' is ending. Here's how your internet use could change  PBS Forget Net Neutrality, A “Free and Open” Internet is Already a Myth  - Saving Country Music Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns the FCC’s Net Neutrality Rules  Citizens Against Government Waste Net neutrality remains the law of the land in California despite federal ruling  The Desert Sun The Tangled Web of Net Neutrality and Regulation  Harvard Business Review Why Net Neutrality Can’t Wait  American Civil Liberties Union Net Neutrality Rules Officially Struck Down  Washington Policy Center Net neutrality rules reinstatement temporarily halted by US appeals court  Reuters

What is Net Neutrality?

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication. For instance, under these principles, internet service providers are unable to intentionally block, slow down or charge money for specific websites and online content.

The term was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wu in 2003, as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier, which was used to describe the role of telephone systems.

A widely cited example of a violation of net neutrality principles was the Internet service provider Comcast's secret slowing ("throttling") of uploads from peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P) applications by using forged packets. Comcast did not stop blocking these protocols, like BitTorrent, until the FCC ordered them to stop. In another minor example, The Madison River Communications company was fined US$15,000 by the FCC, in 2004, for restricting their customers' access to Vonage, which was rivaling their own services. AT&T was also caught limiting access to FaceTime, so only those users who paid for AT&T's new shared data plans could access the application. In July 2017, Verizon Wireless was accused of throttling after users noticed that videos played on Netflix and Youtube were slower than usual, though Verizon commented that it was conducting "network testing" and that net neutrality rules permit "reasonable network management practices".

Research suggests that a combination of policy instruments will help realize the range of valued political and economic objectives central to the network neutrality debate. Combined with strong public opinion, this has led some governments to regulate broadband Internet services as a public utility, similar to the way electricity, gas, and the water supply are regulated, along with limiting providers and regulating the options those providers can offer.