Net neutrality
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.
[20] Without net neutrality, an ISP can influence the quality that each experience offers to end users, which suggests a regime of pay-to-play, where content providers can be charged to improve the exposure of their own products versus those of their competitors.
[24] In contrast, a closed Internet refers to the opposite situation, wherein established persons, corporations, or governments favor certain uses, restrict access to necessary web standards, artificially degrade some services, or explicitly filter out content.
[42] The principle has been incorporated in the EU's Digital Markets Act (Articles 6.3 an 6.4)[43][non-primary source needed] ISPs can choose a balance between a base subscription tariff (monthly bundle) and a pay-per-use (pay by MB metering).
[44] In the US, a complaint was filed with the Federal Communications Commission against the cable provider Comcast alleging they had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using the popular file-sharing software BitTorrent.
[51] Originally developed to filter harmful malware, the Internet security company NetScreen Technologies released network firewalls in 2003 with so-called deep packet inspection capabilities.
The issue, as explained by Robin S. Lee and Tim Wu, is that there are literally too many ISPs and internet content providers around the world to reach an agreement on how to standardize that prioritization.
[65] This sparked an internal debate between the two companies that led to Verizon's obtaining a cease and desist order on 5 June 2014, that forced Netflix to stop displaying this message.
[82] On 19 October 2023, the FCC voted 3–2 to approve a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks comments on a plan to restore net neutrality rules and regulation of Internet service providers.
The regulations are considered to be the "world's strongest" net neutrality rules, guaranteeing free and open Internet for nearly half a billion people,[90] and are expected to help the culture of startups and innovation.
Mobile Internet providers like Globe Telecom and Smart Communications commonly offer data package promos tied to specific applications, games or websites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
[101] Many major Internet application companies are advocates of neutrality, such as eBay,[102] Amazon,[102] Netflix,[103] Reddit,[103] Microsoft,[104] Twitter,[citation needed] Etsy,[105] IAC Inc.,[104] Yahoo!,[106] Vonage,[106] and Cogent Communications.
[110][103] Individuals who support net neutrality include World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee,[111] Vinton Cerf,[112][113] Lawrence Lessig,[114] Robert W. McChesney,[115] Steve Wozniak, Susan P. Crawford, Marvin Ammori, Ben Scott, David Reed,[116] and former U.S. President Barack Obama.
[132] He shows how challenges can arise that can implicate Net Neutrality in certain infrastructure-based cases, such as when ISPs enter into exclusive arrangements with large building owners, leaving the residents unable to exercise any choice in broadband provider.
[135] Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney argue that net neutrality ensures that the Internet remains a free and open technology, fostering democratic communication.
Author Nicholas Carr[139] and other social commentators[140][141] have written about the habituation phenomenon by stating that a faster flow of information on the Internet can make people less patient.
Net neutrality advocates argue that allowing cable companies the right to demand a toll to guarantee quality or premium delivery would create an exploitative business model based on the ISPs position as gatekeepers.
[130] Lawrence Lessig and Robert W. McChesney argue that eliminating net neutrality would lead to the Internet resembling the world of cable TV, so that access to and distribution of content would be managed by a handful of massive, near monopolistic companies, though there are multiple service providers in each region.
Corporate opponents of this measure include Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, IBM, Intel, Cisco, Nokia, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Juniper, D-Link, Wintel, Alcatel-Lucent, Corning, Panasonic, Ericsson, Oracle, Akamai, and others.
[163][164] Individuals who opposed net neutrality rules include Bob Kahn,[165][166] Marc Andreessen,[167] Scott McNealy,[168] Peter Thiel and Max Levchin,[160][169] David Farber,[170] David Clark,[171][172] Louis Pouzin,[173] MIT Media Lab co-founder Nicholas Negroponte,[174] Rajeev Suri,[175] Jeff Pulver,[176][better source needed] Mark Cuban,[177] Robert Pepper[178] and former FCC chairman Ajit Pai.
Thorne and other ISPs have accused Google and Skype of freeloading or free riding for using a network of lines and cables the phone company spent billions of dollars to build.
[133] Former FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and Federal Election Commission's Lee Goldman also wrote in a Politico piece in February 2015, "Compare Europe, which has long had utility-style regulations, with the United States, which has embraced a light-touch regulatory model.
"[200] VOIP pioneer Jeff Pulver states that the uncertainty of the FCC imposing Title II, which experts said would create regulatory restrictions on using the Internet to transmit a voice call, was the "single greatest impediment to innovation" for a decade.
[201] According to Pulver, investors in the companies he helped found, like Vonage, held back investment because they feared the FCC could use Title II to prevent VOIP startups from bypassing telephone networks.
The commissioners argued that the stricter speed guidelines painted the broadband industry as less competitive, justifying the FCC's moves with Title II net neutrality regulations.
[204] In his dissent, Pai noted that 142 wireless ISPs (WISPs) said that FCC's new "regulatory intrusion into our businesses ... would likely force us to raise prices, delay deployment expansion, or both."
He also noted that 24 of the country's smallest ISPs, each with fewer than 1,000 residential broadband customers, wrote to the FCC stating that Title II "will badly strain our limited resources" because they "have no in-house attorneys and no budget line items for outside counsel."
On the contrary, the complexity of caching operations (e.g., extensive information processing) has been successively regarded by the FCC as one of the technical reasons why ISPs should not be considered common carriers, which legitimates the abrogation of Net Neutrality rules.
[223] For example, a non-discriminatory caching might be performed considering the popularity of contents, or with the aim of guaranteeing the same QoE to all the users, or, alternatively, to achieve some common welfare objectives.
[241] In the U.S, government city tech leaders warned in 2017 that the FCC's repeal of net neutrality will widen the digital divide, negatively affect small businesses, and job opportunities for middle class and low-income citizens.
