FCC approves net neutrality rules, reclassifies broadband as a utility
What is Net Neutrality and why is it important?
The basic
principle of Net Neutrality is that access to all websites and web services
should be equal and that anyone can start their own website/service and make it
accessible to anyone with internet access, just like any other website/service.
Without Net
Neutrality, your Internet Service Provider (e.g. BT) could arbitrarily block
whatever websites it didn't want you to access (e.g. perhaps blocking you from
accessing competitors' websites). It could also mean your service provider
purposefully degrades access to certain websites or services and/or forces you
to pay extra to access certain websites or services (imagine paying an extra £5 a month to your service provider just because you want to access Facebook).
In the UK,
this is not as big of a problem because there is (for the most part) much more
competition because the BT network is opened up through a wholesale program
which allows third-party providers to access the network and provide their own
differentiated/custom internet services (to some extent).
In the US,
however, there isn't really competition like this. Many homes have only one
broadband internet service provider to choose from (e.g. their local telephone
company) and some people are lucky enough to have two providers (e.g. telephone
and cable company) or in very rare cases three providers (e.g. telephone, cable
and independent fiber company). Basically, there is hardly any
competition which means that if one service provider starts violating the
principles of Net Neutrality, many customers are completely powerless (since
they have such a limited or perhaps no alternative selection for ISPs).
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