Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC)

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.

1. Why We Still Need Net Neutrality | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society  Benton Foundation
2. The FCC Helped AT&T Hide Its Crappy Broadband Speeds  Techdirt
3. Political Editors: Bernie Sanders Wants to Nationalize the Internet  Patriot Post
4. Ex-FCC Boss: Gut Net Neutrality and You Gut Internet Freedom  Stock Daily Dish
5. View full coverage on Google News

Democrat Bill Seeks to Restore ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules  NECN US Court: FCC Had the Right to Dump Net-Neutrality Rules  NBC10 Boston With Net Neutrality Axed, Local Governments Are Racing To Save the Open Internet  In These Times Ratified: How Open Internet Advocates and ISPs Will Bring the Net Neutrality Fight to the States  MarketScale Dems Call Out McConnell For Blocking Vote On Net Neutrality  Law360 Doyle: A President Biden Would Likely Back Return of Net Rules  Multichannel News Friday Is Deadline for Appealing Decision Upholding Net Dereg  Multichannel News Klobuchar Would Tie Net Neutrality to Government Contract Money  Broadcasting & Cable Sanders Wants To Restore Net Neutrality Rules, Ban Data Caps 12/09/2019  MediaPost Communications Justice Thomas, preemption, and state net neutrality  American Enterprise Institute Maine Compass: Congress must protect net neutrality  Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Killing Net Neutrality Was Even Worse Than You Think  OneZero Lindsay Mark Lewis: Finding common ground on net neutrality  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Why one senator stopped a vote on net neutrality  The Daily Dot Streaming explosion sparks calls for new government regulations  The Washington Post AT&T Exec Insists That No Broadband Company Is Violating Net Neutrality Even Though AT&T Is Absolutely Violating Net Neutrality  Techdirt Republicans just blocked a net neutrality vote in the Senate  The Daily Dot The net neutrality fanatics were wrong  Financial Post Bernie Sanders's radical plan to nationalize the internet  Washington Examiner FCC Plans to Scrap Defective System Used to Post Fake Net Neutrality Comments  Gizmodo Moulton: 'Afghanistan Papers' Prove Need For Counterterror-Only Strategy  WBUR The Last Hope for Net Neutrality  Slate US net neutrality's crushing defeat this week may end up saving it  Quartz Emerging Technologies Washington Update- Dec 12, 2019  Lexology Emerging Technologies Washington Update - December 2019 #2 | McGuireWoods Consulting  JD Supra Lawsuit forces CenturyLink to stop charging “Internet Cost Recovery Fee”  Ars Technica Where the net neutrality fight goes next  Axios Net Neutrality Focus Shifts to States, Hill  Multichannel News Dem Rep. Says House Has Passed Almost 400 Bills in 2019, Tells McConnell to ‘Do His Job’  Independent Journal Review Tacoma gets a win in Click lawsuit, but a higher court might have the final say  KIRO Seattle House votes to restore net neutrality rules  CNN America’s Top Foundations Bankroll Attack on Big Tech  The New York Times Sanders introduces $150 billion 'Internet for All' plan  StateScoop EU carbon neutrality: Leaders agree 2050 target without Poland  BBC News Reflecting On One Year Without Net Neutrality  Forbes AT&T Said Trump Tax Cuts Would Create Thousands Of Jobs. Instead, AT&T's Laying Off Thousands.  Techdirt House Democrats have passed hundreds of bills. Trump and Republicans are ignoring them  Vox.com Net neutrality was repealed a year ago — what’s happened since?  The Verge This Summer, Take Some Time to Stand Up for Net Neutrality  EFF A Year After the Repeal of Net Neutrality, Debate Rages On  Government Technology Oregon Steps into the Net Neutrality Ring, Wins Round One  Governing Net Neutrality: Not New, But More Important Than Ever | Public Knowledge  Public Knowledge Tech News and Comment We Survived the Net-Neutrality Apocalypse  National Review Washington State keeps enforcing net neutrality as it hails FCC court loss  Ars Technica California Will Have an Open Internet  The New York Times Net Neutrality Could Be “Make or Break” for Those in Real Estate  Daily Beast Oregon’s Net Neutrality Law Upheld by Federal Ruling  GovTech U.S. House to vote to reinstate net neutrality rules in April  Reuters Why Net Neutrality Advocates Remain Optimistic  WIRED In the United States, Net Neutrality Makes a Comeback  CPO Magazine Only Congress Can End the Net Neutrality War  Multichannel News The FCC said repealing net-neutrality rules would help consumers: It hasn’t  Yahoo Finance Net Neutrality Bill Advances In House  Forbes U.S. House to vote on net neutrality bill on Tuesday  Reuters 'Net neutrality' rules quietly fade away | Opinion  Portage Daily Register Industry Voices—Entner: Back to the future on net neutrality  FierceWireless Today Is a Huge Day in the Fight to Restore Net Neutrality  Slate We should keep track of Hagedorn votes | Letters To The Editor  Mankato Free Press Democrats' latest net neutrality bill is a partisan death sentence for internet innovation  USA TODAY Net Neutrality Gives Cities Some Flexibility  CitiesSpeak Net Neutrality Needs An Alternate Narrative  Multichannel News Appeals court upholds net neutrality repeal but rules FCC can't block state laws | TheHill  The Hill Your view: Letters discuss obstructionism, Democrats, 'playing dirty'  Joplin Globe FCC chair defends ending net neutrality; promotes competition  NET Nebraska Study Proves The FCC's Core Justification for Killing Net Neutrality Was False  VICE No Net Neutrality Questions In Four Debates Hosted By ISP-Owned Networks  Forbes Net neutrality battleground shifts after FCC court victory  Washington Examiner Online freedom of expression hits a ten-year low  Boing Boing Net neutrality is back in play as Democratic lawmakers announce a bill. Here’s what to expect.  Washington Post 'The Public Is Clearly on the Side of Net Neutrality'  FAIR Democrats to push to reinstate repealed 'net neutrality' rules  Reuters Sohn: FCC Authority is Key to Compromise Net Neutrality Bill  Multichannel News Net Neutrality Debate Revving Back Up Again, Stuck In Same Gear  Forbes Net Neutrality Has Officially Been Repealed. Here’s How That Could Affect You.  The New York Times What the Wild History of Digital Currency Tells Us About the Future  CoinDesk Broadband Providers Are Quietly Taking Advantage of an Internet Without Net Neutrality Protections | Public Knowledge  Public Knowledge Tech News and Comment Net neutrality battle heads to court in 2019  CNET Facebook tells us why net neutrality regulation is a bad idea  American Enterprise Institute Editorial: Internet’s future rests on California’s defense of net neutrality law  The Mercury News Digital Rights Group Seeks Net Neutrality Ruling Redo  Bloomberg Law What to Expect When You're Expecting a Net Neutrality Decision  Benton Foundation Killing Net Neutrality Rules Did Far More Harm Than You Probably Realize  Techdirt Reddit Co-founder, Congresswoman advocate for net neutrality at Law School event  The Stanford Daily What happened in the comments section of the FCC’s net neutrality hearing?  The Verge Net Neutrality Fake-Off Shows Politics Are Messed Up  Forbes Congress, Not the Courts, Could End the Net Neutrality Debate  Government Technology None Of The Claimed Benefits Of Killing Net Neutrality Ever Arrived  Techdirt Sorry, FCC—killing net neutrality probably didn’t expand internet access  MIT Technology Review In state senate hopeful Jackie Fielder, San Francisco progressives see their Ocasio-Cortez  Mission Local How we run our money: Pension Danmark  IPE.com Republicans say they want net neutrality rules, too  CNET Activists challenge 2020 candidates to sign net neutrality pledge  CNET GAO Report: The Net Neutrality Debate Complicates Data Privacy  Government Technology FCC Chair Ajit Pai Says Internet Speeds Have Increased Since Net Neutrality Repeal  Observer Net Neutrality Updates  American Libraries It's Now Clear None of the Supposed Benefits of Killing Net Neutrality Are Real  Motherboard A Year Without Net Neutrality: No Big Changes (Yet)  WIRED Net neutrality stifles investment and innovation  The Maine Wire Repealing Net Neutrality hasn't helped consumers like the FCC promised  Mic

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.