The idea of net neutrality is a new phenomenon in the public eye that has to do with how open Internet service providers need to be to offer access in the United States. The principle behind the concept of net neutrality is that all sites on the Internet should have equal accessibility. Now, a federal court has ruled against openness online.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. appeals court threw out federal rules requiring broadband providers to treat all Internet traffic equally. This could mean that websites that use a lot of bandwidth, such as Netflix, will have to pay tolls to ensure quality service.
The ruling could strike a blow to the millions of Americans who rely on the internet and video streaming for their entertainment purposes. Some websites could run significantly faster than others because they simply can't pay the extra money to the service provider to get better quality treatment from it. The ruling is a bit of a blow against the Obama administration, which has been pushing the idea of net neutrality for quite some time.
"It takes the Internet into completely uncharted territory," said Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor who originally coined the term "net neutrality."
The original idea was adopted in 2010 when the Federal Communications Commission ruled that companies like Verizon and Comcast had to treat all similar content on their networks equally, whether it was YouTube or a personal website.
Deciding in a lawsuit brought on by Verizon, an Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the rules. The court ruled that the FCC saddled broadband providers with the same sorts of obligations as traditional "common carrier" telecommunications services like landline hone systems.
"Given that the Commission has chosen to classify broadband providers in a manner that exempts them from treatment as common carriers, the Communications Act expressly prohibits the commission from nonetheless regulating them as such," Judge David Tatel wrote for the court.
According to the WSJ Google and Netflix have yet to comment on the situation, which might see them have to spend more money to offer high-speed video streaming and searching. What impact this will have on the customers remains to be seen but it is unlikely there won't be some kind of consequence for the money that will be reallocated to Internet speed.
