Net Neutrality is an issue that everyone here, (particularly in the U.S.) should be concerned about. Basically, the telcos are being greedy bastards, and are requesting the right from Supreme Court to control speed of packets in ISP's based on their content. They want to get the ability to control the internet, and become the gatekeeps, so to say, so that there is an extra barrier between the consumer and the corperation (the site, i.e. google, yahoo).
Here is how it works:
They want the ability to say, for example: "Hey google, why don't you give us a 1% of your income, or all packets that travel through Comcast (a popular ISP in my area) that contain a Google header will be slowed down by 2 seconds, therefore ruining your buisness unless you pay up". The thing is, right now it is illiegal for telco's to offer different speeds to packets based on where they come from. So right now, they can't make google, msn, and yahoo compete with each other by paying them money to gain better speeds. This is called Net Neutrality. All packets are equal. This is called a "Dumb Network", which means the ISP's are only responsible to get the packet from point A (the host), to point B, (the consumer), without looking at it or doing anything to it. If Net Neutrality is broken (if it is ruled legal to look at packets by Supreme Court), a telco now becomes in control of the internet. They can make companies compete by paying them money for the best speeds on the internet. This will mean, basically, that only the _biggest_ and most powerful corperations will be able to compete on the web.
This will technically make the internet into the next Television, where telco's (ISP's), will offer certain sites that do pay them, and block off other sites that don't.
Now, you may be wondering, "But that won't work, there will always be that one ISP that will offer everything at the same speed!". Well, the problem is, there is almost no competition among ISP's in the US. This is because laying cable wire costs money, so most ISP's just control one area, and that one area only. While big cities might have many choices, the average small town (This is called "the last mile", as in the last mile of cable that nobody wants to compete for, because it won't bring them enough profit) is ruled by one ISP. So the majority of the population in the US will be ruled by one ISP that won't follow Net Neutrality.
The result of all this: The telco's get massive money, the consumer gets screwed.
Here is how it works:
They want the ability to say, for example: "Hey google, why don't you give us a 1% of your income, or all packets that travel through Comcast (a popular ISP in my area) that contain a Google header will be slowed down by 2 seconds, therefore ruining your buisness unless you pay up". The thing is, right now it is illiegal for telco's to offer different speeds to packets based on where they come from. So right now, they can't make google, msn, and yahoo compete with each other by paying them money to gain better speeds. This is called Net Neutrality. All packets are equal. This is called a "Dumb Network", which means the ISP's are only responsible to get the packet from point A (the host), to point B, (the consumer), without looking at it or doing anything to it. If Net Neutrality is broken (if it is ruled legal to look at packets by Supreme Court), a telco now becomes in control of the internet. They can make companies compete by paying them money for the best speeds on the internet. This will mean, basically, that only the _biggest_ and most powerful corperations will be able to compete on the web.
This will technically make the internet into the next Television, where telco's (ISP's), will offer certain sites that do pay them, and block off other sites that don't.
Now, you may be wondering, "But that won't work, there will always be that one ISP that will offer everything at the same speed!". Well, the problem is, there is almost no competition among ISP's in the US. This is because laying cable wire costs money, so most ISP's just control one area, and that one area only. While big cities might have many choices, the average small town (This is called "the last mile", as in the last mile of cable that nobody wants to compete for, because it won't bring them enough profit) is ruled by one ISP. So the majority of the population in the US will be ruled by one ISP that won't follow Net Neutrality.
The result of all this: The telco's get massive money, the consumer gets screwed.