Why Net Neutrality Matters: Protecting Consumers and Competition Through Meaningful Open Internet Rules

The FCC is in the process of considering whether to adopt rules that would regulate the Internet. The rules the FCC is now considering will shape the Internet ecosystem for many years to come and could have a profound effect on the U.S. economy, place in the world and ultimately on the nature of society. The Internet we know is the direct result of two key characteristics. First, the Internet separates applications from infrastructure, making it possible to create a networked application without knowing anything about the underlying network. Second, every applications is immediately available to every consumer. These two characteristics radically lowered the cost of building and distributing Internet applications, opening the market to a much larger and more diverse pool of creators. For the first time, people without money, connections, or corporate backing could create an application and reach a global audience. Until recently, Internet access providers could not tell if you were watching Netflix, playing Angry Birds, or posting on Facebook. By default, access to the Internet was open. They have now deployed technology that allows them to see what services you are using. This will make it possible for the cable and telephone companies we use to get to the Internet to charge application developers for faster delivery of packets, slow traffic they decide is less important and even block traffic altogether. The Internet has remained a relatively level playing field because of a combination of FCC enforcement actions and Comcast's acceptance of net neutrality principles as a condition of their merger with NBC. Today, those agreements are nearing expiration, and the FCC's ability to enforce open Internet principles has been sharply curtailed by the DC Circuit Court's decision in the Verizon case.