Over the past week or so, following the revelation that Google and Verizon have been discussing net neutrality in The States, the age-old debate has blown up all over again.
Since then, no end of interesting articles and blogs about what net neutrality means for us have been published. In addition, pretty much every national news source has run a guide to what net neutrality actually is. I myself needed a refresh, and not for the first (or the last!) time. It’s pretty confusing.
So, is it a good thing, or a bad thing? The ‘neutral’ connotations make it difficult to distinguish. For what it’s worth, this seems like a simple summary from the ACLU:
Net Neutrality ensures that you, not a corporate monopoly, choose how you access and use the Internet. It protects your ability to access and send any lawful information on the Internet. It prevents Internet Service Providers, such as cable and telephone companies, from preferring certain content, applications, or services over others. Net Neutrality means individual freedom, not corporate control, on the Internet.
Obviously the argument has two sides and each side has a case to make. I just wonder why what is essentially a simple concept has been so successful in remaining so widely confounding for so long?
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