I recalled hearing about net neutrality in the past, but it was something from an animation I watched when I was a kid, so I did not know what it was. However, I learned from one of my peers that it prevents Internet Service Providers from throttling Internet traffic, prioritizing some programs, and blocking access to others.
A group of these providers include Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, or T-Mobile when we get a data plan for our smartphones, so this is an issue beyond our computers and laptops.
I also learned that net neutrality was around before the Internet! Telegrams and telephones were also affected by net neutrality, preventing companies from prioritizing some calls over others. I wonder how throttling or blocking calls could work, considering it was a while before emails and the internet came along. Would these companies not be sued if they tried this?
I discovered the FCC after some searching, which is a government agency that aims to regulate national and international communications along radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the US. They were created in the Communications Act of 1934 and would become involved with internet service providers once internet connections were introduced in the US.
Over time, the total amount of internet service providers would significantly decrease in 2007, leading to a lack of options for internet service providers. Alongside internet speeds being throttled, AT&T banned customers from setting up Wi-Fi routers in the early 2000s. Around the same time, Comcast was preventing users from setting up VPNs. Another provider by the name of Madison River blocked Vonage, a service used to make calls across the internet in 2005.
Due to worries about internet service providers threatening to throttle speeds, Barack Obama pledged support for net neutrality during his 2008 campaign, stating that the servers and networks we get our information from being "gatekeepers and charging different rates destroys one of the best things about the internet-which is that there is incredible equality there."
Under the Obama Administration, the FCC introduced the Open Internet Order in 2010, preventing Internet service providers from blocking websites or imposing limits on consumers. Because internet service providers could not impose limits, they had no way to reduce streaming data, costing them more money. Verizon would file a lawsuit weeks after the FCC adopted these rules, leading to their rules being struck down on January 14, 2014.
Despite this, the FCC released another Open Internet Order in 2015, preventing blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. Once again, internet service providers petitioned to strike down this order, but a federal court upheld this decision on June 14, 2016, allowing this rule to be applied to wired and wireless networks.
Upholding this decision was a victory for Obama's presidency, but he was close to finishing his second term. Because of this, he could not participate in the 2016 election, which was between Clinton and Trump. Safe to say, we all know who won, since he has not left the media since he was elected.
Because Trump was a Republican, he was destined to change some things since Obama left, and change things he did! He appointed Ajit Pai to be the chairman of the FCC, leading to the Restoring Internet Freedom Order being issued in 2017. The order undid the Open Internet Order, allowing internet service providers to block and throttle their internet traffic again.
After learning all of this, I believe net neutrality is a good thing for the country. I do not know the negatives too well, but both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney emphasized equal opportunity during their campaigns for the 2012 election. If internet service providers can make a website's internet speed faster if they pay and can block or slow others, is that equal opportunity? I do not believe it is, and we should give it another try. If we do not, we will end up with something like this:
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