In an increasingly connected world, the Internet has played a pivotal role in defining the future of how we as a society interact and communicate. Between social networking, financial and even magazine websites, we find ourselves spending more time on the internet than ever before. However, as more individuals begin to use internet, a pressing issue has begun to test the very fabric of the internet as we know it.
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers and governments regulating internet traffic should treat all internet traffic equally, and not discriminate by website, user or platform (Wu, 2013). As usage of the internet has grown over the past decades, internet service providers (ISP) have proposed various forms of …show more content…
These cases were so prolific that they influenced the creation of government policy a decade later. In 2010, in the FCC created the Open Internet Order which comprised of a series regulations focused on creating a legal framework for ensuring net neutrality by classifying the internet as a telecommunications utility. Key tenants of the order included improved transparency from ISPs, no blocking, and no unreasonable discrimination. At the time, many watchdog groups hailed this order as a major victory for the principle of net neutrality. However, many telecom and other ISPs felt that the government had overstepped its bounds by regulating an ostensibly private network and challenged the FCC ruling. Subsequently, in Verizon Communications Inc. v. FCC (2014), the U.S. Appellate court ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to impose the order in its entirety, and threw out the no blocking and no unreasonable discrimination portions of the order. Since that ruling, the FCC has been exploring other options for ensuring the enforcement of net
Net neutrality is the principle that internet service providers and governments regulating internet traffic should treat all internet traffic equally, and not discriminate by website, user or platform (Wu, 2013). As usage of the internet has grown over the past decades, internet service providers (ISP) have proposed various forms of …show more content…
These cases were so prolific that they influenced the creation of government policy a decade later. In 2010, in the FCC created the Open Internet Order which comprised of a series regulations focused on creating a legal framework for ensuring net neutrality by classifying the internet as a telecommunications utility. Key tenants of the order included improved transparency from ISPs, no blocking, and no unreasonable discrimination. At the time, many watchdog groups hailed this order as a major victory for the principle of net neutrality. However, many telecom and other ISPs felt that the government had overstepped its bounds by regulating an ostensibly private network and challenged the FCC ruling. Subsequently, in Verizon Communications Inc. v. FCC (2014), the U.S. Appellate court ruled that the FCC did not have the authority to impose the order in its entirety, and threw out the no blocking and no unreasonable discrimination portions of the order. Since that ruling, the FCC has been exploring other options for ensuring the enforcement of net