What is net neutrality?
Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) are neutral to all content going through their infrastructure. In practice, it means one site won’t load faster than another competing site (like if a Google search was quicker than a Bing search because the ISP favoured Bing).
Let's also get two concepts down before we proceed:
Infrastructure: This refers to the actual infrastructure of broadband internet from the service providers (basically the pipes, wires, and network that the internet is built from).
Content: The content that you visit on the internet like websites, social media platforms, Google Images, and information.
Net neutrality suggests that the companies behind both infrastructure and content should be separate, and internet service providers should not favour certain content over others going through their infrastructure.
Can you give us some examples of what net neutrality is and isn’t?
An example of this is AT&T (which is like the U.S. version of Telstra) owning Time Warner, which owns HBO. If you’re watching a HBO show (like the Snyder Cut) and you’re an AT&T customer, you might get this data for free and prioritised on the AT&T infrastructure, but if you were with another service provider, for example, Commcast (which is like Optus), it might be slowed down or cost more.
So why is the U.S. talking about it?
Net neutrality pops up in the news in the U.S. because, in America, a lot of consumers don’t have much choice in their internet provider. Each of those providers has its own set of infrastructure (pipes in the ground), which is super expensive. Not every house has all the different pipes (from the different service providers), most will only have one or two if they’re lucky. Whoever owns the pipe going into your house, is your internet provider.
In Australia, things are different. We now have the NBN and the old copper Telstra infrastructure that ISPs (like Optus and Telstra) access to sell you data, rather than multiple different pipes and infrastructure for each provider. This means there’s one pipe going through your house, and you choose who your provider is (like Telstra, Optus, Vodafone).
This all sounds pretty boring. Why do I care?
Consumers argue that they want net neutrality because the internet is designed to be open and free to all content, no matter who the provider is, and what type of content you want to consume. But companies argue that this is a way for them to maximise their profits.
Big tech companies like Mozilla, Reddit, and Vimeo (who provide content) have recently gotten involved, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S. to bring back net neutrality after it was repealed by the Trump administration. The companies wrote: “by using its authority to restore net neutrality at the federal level, the FCC can help protect families and businesses across the country that rely on high-speed broadband access and help spark our recovery”. This way all companies (like the ones just mentioned), have their content treated neutrally. After all, it should be about the content, not how fast it loads!