Net Neutrality in a Nutshell

What is net neutrality and why is it making news lately? Tech Talker explains.

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What is net neutrality?

The term net neutrality or internet neutrality has come up in the news recently and it has been causing a lot of controversy and confusion. In this week’s episode I’m going to set the record straight!


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If you’ve never heard of net neutrality before, fear not, it’s a really simple concept. At its most basic, it's the idea that internet service providers (such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc.) should treat all data the same as it travels across the internet.

This means that your internet speed and the availability of websites should be the same no matter what the content is, or who owns it. This means that loading a website of The Wall Street Journal should be delivered to your computer the exact same way as the web site of The New York Times. When I first heard of this I thought “Well of course they should, why wouldn’t they?”—and well that’s where it gets sticky.

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