Once an esoteric concept discussed only among technologists and online-rights activists, net neutrality is now front-page news. The rise of data-intense streaming media services such as Netflix and the concentration of power in large Internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon have raised the questions of how Internet access will be parceled out and paid for among content providers and consumers. For instance, the concept of net neutrality encompasses questions like, "Will my Netflix streaming work?" and "Will the Internet still be an egalitarian medium where all players are treated equally?"
Sites including Reddit, Pornhub and Vimeo install widgets to show how the internet would look if regulators caved in to big cable companies on net neutrality.
After years of general statements encouraging net neutrality - the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all Internet traffic equally - President Barack Obama today (Nov. 10) came out definitively in favor of the cause, in both written and video statements. Is this a toothless pronunciation by a second-term president whose party just lost control of the Senate? Or does he have solid legal rationale and authority to back up what he said? It may be a little of both.
