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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.

  1. Groups urge Biden to nominate FCC commissioner to speed net neutrality reinstatement  Reuters
  2. 50 groups urge Biden to fill FCC opening to reinstate net neutrality rules | TheHill  The Hill
  3. US groups hoping for net neutrality reinstatement urge Biden to nominate fifth FCC seat  South China Morning Post
  4. Pai’s legacy lives on for now as Biden fails to nominate Democrat to FCC  Ars Technica
  5. View Full Coverage on Google News
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You need net neutrality back  Joplin Globe California's Net Neutrality Law Hurts Veterans and All Consumers  The WasteWatcher Feds move to block California’s net neutrality law  The Verge OTTO Motors to hold a live webinar about deploying AMRs in mission critical operations  Robotics and Automation News What Sheltering in Place Teaches Us About Net Neutrality  No Jitter Tim Wu, the ‘father of net neutrality,’ is joining the Biden administration  The Verge Would Google Work As A Common Carrier? Experts Doubtful  Law360 Goodbye, Ajit Pai  Slate Flagstaff City Council passes Carbon Neutrality Plan  Arizona Daily Sun Sibanye-Stillwater aims for 2040 carbon neutrality  Mining Journal T-Mobile's Binge On safe from California's net neutrality rules  FierceVideo U.S. appeals court will not reconsider net neutrality repeal ruling  Reuters FCC votes along party lines to end 'net neutrality'  Associated Press gizmodo.com The Guy Who Literally Coined 'Net Neutrality' Now Works for Biden The reign of  Gizmodo F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules  The New York Times US Justice Department Asks Court to Block California Net Neutrality Law  Voice of America Net Neutrality Has Officially Been Repealed. Here’s How That Could Affect You.  The New York Times Europe’s top court says net neutrality rules bar ‘zero rating’  TechCrunch The PRO-SPEECH Act Is Anything but First Amendment-Friendly  Reason California Enacts Net Neutrality Laws, and Other News  Surface Magazine Net Neutrality May Hit Infrastructure Investment, Simington Says  Bloomberg Law The Covid-19 Pandemic Shows the Virtues of Net Neutrality  WIRED Comments on: Will satellite internet deliver net neutrality?  EDN.com Editorial: FCC and Congress should jump behind net neutrality  The Ledger Big Tech critic Lina Khan wins FTC confirmation  Engadget Origin of the Internet: Who Invented the World Wide Web?  Interesting Engineering How Biden’s FCC could fix America’s internet  Vox.com

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.