Net neutrality is a ‘hot topic’, albeit perhaps not the sexiest one. It simply means that all traffic on the internet should be treated in the same manner, thus not discriminating between, for example, music data and video data. When you start to think about it, you might conclude that it is one of the most important foundations for the internet as we know it. Let’s first look briefly into the idea of net neutrality, and at why it is important thereafter.
Net Neutrality in a nutshell
The basic idea is that, on a neutral internet, the Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) do not control the traffic that flows through their servers. Why is this a big deal? Well, first of all, the internet has become a very free place because of it. No matter what you are sending, whether it is a picture of your cat, a movie, or some form of criticism on an influencial person or strong political party, all traffic is treated the same, and no traffic is deliberately being slowed down or blocked (with the possible exception of illegal content).
Also, it has led to a place where ‘everybody is equal’, whether it is a huge corporation or… well, you and me. There is no way for big players to hinder traffic to smaller players, thereby creating a more and more monopolistic position for themselves.
Effects on competition
(The absence of) net neutrality is actually a regular news item, but almost always in a seemingly unharmful way. Providers for instance state that Spotify traffic will no longer be substracted from your MB bundle. Although this sounds as something purely positive, it is actually, from the industry point of view, ruining the free market forces and the competition, as the position of Spotify among the streaming music platforms becomes stronger.
Regulation
Fortunately, there are regulations to make sure network neutrality is not infringed. The European Parliament recently adopted new EU wide rules, and experts have recently published the actual implementation guidelines thereof. Also recently, the USA adopted a ‘strong’ version of net neutrality, strong meaning that not only restriction of traffic is not allowed, but charging an extra fee for letting through certain services (such as YouTube, for instance) is not allowed either.
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Sources
http://www.gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/What-is-net-neutrality-and-why-it-is-important/articleshow/46902071.cms
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2648176/europarlement-benadrukt-noodzaak-netneutraliteit.html
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/111407/streamen-zonder-data-in-rekening-te-brengen-blijft-strijdig-met-netneutraliteit.html
http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/30/12707590/eu-net-neutrality-rules-final-guidelines-berec
https://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality
