net neutrality

net neutrality

(NETwork neutrality) A level playing field for Internet transport. It refers to the absence of restrictions or priorities placed on the type of content carried over the Internet by the carriers and ISPs that run the major backbones. It states that all traffic be treated equally; that packets are delivered on a first-come, first-served basis regardless from where they originated or to where they are destined.

Net neutrality became an issue as major search engines such as Google and Yahoo! increasingly generated massive amounts of traffic compared with other sites. It also became an issue because some carriers that offered subscription-based VoIP services were also transporting their competitors' VoIP traffic.

Very Controversial
The Internet has had net neutrality since its inception, which has leveled the playing field for all participants. This is a very contentious topic because major carriers have lobbied the FCC to eliminate network neutrality in order to charge sites based on their traffic.

Although it might seem reasonable to charge sites that disseminate huge amounts of content, ISPs may have conflicts of interest. For example, if an ISP also streams on-demand movies, it can block access to its competitors or demand fees to lift the blockade. The implications down the road are even more alarming. If net neutrality were abandoned entirely, at some point, owners of all Web sites might have to pay the carriers' fees to prevent their content from bogging down in a low-priority delivery queue.

Excerpted from the July 2010 issue of "The Hightower Lowdown," it says this: "Forget the technology, net neutrality is about democracy itself-- the latest battleground in our nation's historic struggle for freedom of speech, a free press, and the free flow of information that We the People must have if, in fact, we are to be self-governing."

The 2010 FCC Ruling
At the end of 2010, the FCC ruled that carriers were prohibited from exercising "unreasonable" discrimination. Critics immediately responded saying that "unreasonable" was much too vague.