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For the past several months, we have been hearing this term known as “Net Neutrality”. What is it all about?
Many people still aren’t exactly aware of this new jargon over which companies and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States are locking horns with each other.
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In the following paragraphs, let’s take a look at what is net neutrality and what does it means to you.
What Is Net Neutrality?
As the name indicates, Net Neutrality (also known as Network Neutrality or Internet neutrality) is all about creating a neutral internet. The term supports the view that Internet traffic should be treated equally.
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The term also backs that internet should be an open platform like any other utility used in our home like electricity as Internet has already become part and parcel of our lives and has been indispensable.
Net Neutrality advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers (ISPs) and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication.
Any website, whether it may be Google or Netflix or Amazon, should be treated the same way in terms of bandwidth used to reach the internet-connected services.
Arguments Over Net Neutrality
The proponents of Net Neutrality claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services.
The term – Net Neutrality -- has not been popular till early 2000s when advocates of net neutrality and associated rules have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g., websites, services, protocols), even blocking out competitors.
For example, ISPs like AT&T and Verizon may not like Google Voice as it allows sending of free text messages and they could block Google Voice from your smartphones and instead force you to use their SMS plans.
On the other hand, critics of net neutrality – mainly ISPs – argue that prioritization of bandwidth is necessary for future innovation on the Internet.
The telephone and cable companies argue that they have spent billions on their networks and they should be able to run them however they wish.
