You will hear the term Net Neutrality more often in the coming days. It is time to learn the facts about this concept, if you don’t know it already.

What is net neutrality?

Here is what you need to know.

The concept of Net neutrality envisages that Internet Service Providers treat all network traffic equally. In other words, ISPs should not slow down, block legal content, or give priority to content such as, for instance, movie streaming from certain sources, or accept payments for giving priority to beaming one company’s data than its competitors.

The Open Internet Order adopted by Federal Communications Commission of the US in 2010 requires ISPs to reveal how they manage network traffic.

Its main tenets were Transparency, No blocking and No discrimination.

Below is the relevant section of the Order:

i. Transparency.

Fixed and mobile broadband providers must disclose the network management practices, performance characteristics, and terms and conditions of their broadband services;

ii. No blocking.

Fixed broadband providers may not block lawful content, applications,  services, or non-harmful devices; mobile broadband providers may not block lawful websites, or block applications that compete with their voice or video telephony services; and

iii. No unreasonable discrimination.

Fixed broadband providers may not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic.

 But the issue of net neutrality has been a controversial one for the past three decades.

Below is a timeline on key developments in net neutrality, including this month’s landmark decision by the European Parliament on mobile roaming charges.

 

1980

The FCC’s ‘Computer II’ policies set separate rules for “basic” and “enhanced” communications services. Basic services are subject to “common carrier” rules, which stop them from blocking or discriminating against traffic, just like the telephone companies are not supposed to discriminate on calls.

1996

Telecommunications Act of the US creates two types of telecom companies: Title II “telecommunications carriers” (Basic services such as DSL companies which simply transmit information) and Title I “information service providers” (enhanced services including internet portals such as AOL that offer interactive features).

2002

FCC defines cable broadband as an information service. This in reality exempts the most popular consumer internet providers from common carrier rules.

2005

DSL and wireless reclassified as information services. The FCC issues first set of “open internet” rules that grant users the right to access any lawful content and use any devices and services they want on a network.

2007

At the height of peer-to-peer file sharing, torrent traffic dominates internet. Comcast is found to be slowing down BitTorrent traffic.

2008

The FCC asks Comcast to stop slowing down selective traffic. Comcast sues, saying FCC has no authority to censure it.

April 2010

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski proposes two new open internet principles: non-discrimination (to stop carriers from slowing particular services), and transparency (to make public carriers’ network management practices)

December 2010

FCC releases Genachowski’s Open Internet Order, in which broadband companies are classified as information service providers.

November 2011

The Open Internet Order go into effect, barring wired broadband providers from blocking, slowing, or prioritizing traffic in most cases. Wireless carriers are exempted from these rules.

July 2012

Verizon and MetroPCS appeal the order.

September 2013

European Commission proposes the “Connected Continent” telecom regulation for EU countries. It aims for a truly single market for telecoms in the EU, by ending roaming charges, guaranteeing an open internet for all by banning blocking and degrading of content, coordinating spectrum licensing for wireless broadband, giving internet and broadband customers more transparency in their contracts, and making it easier for customers to switch providers.

 January 14, 2014

In a victory for Verizon, a Washington DC court rules against FCC, striking down its anti-blocking and anti-discrimination requirements, saying the government can’t impose common carrier rules on information service providers.

Feb 23, 2014

Video streaming service Netflix agrees to pay for direct access to Comcast’s network. The agreement ensures smooth streaming for Comcast subscribers who watch Netflix. In its report critical of the deal, Washington Post  said:

“Officially, Comcast’s deal with Netflix is about interconnection, not traffic discrimination. But it’s hard to see a practical difference between this deal and the kind of tiered access that network neutrality advocates have long feared. Network neutrality advocates are going to have to go back to the drawing board.”

 March 20, 2014

In a blog posting, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings calls for new federal regulations to ensure it doesn’t have to pay extra fees to deliver high-quality video streams to its customers. He warns that without government intervention, negotiations between web services and Internet providers over connection deals could result in the kinds of blackouts that already plague cable television.

March 23, 2014

Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is in talks with Comcast for a new streaming service, which would deliver content from the cloud to an Apple set-top box. The report notes that Apple’s plan would be for its video content to get priority treatment from Comcast to the customers, which may be the end of net neutrality as we know it.

 April 1, 2014

FCC says it is considering new rules to regulate the paid arrangements between companies like Comcast and Netflix, but dismisses Netflix CEO Hastings’ call to expand the scope of net neutrality to regulate the way companies connect across the physical infrastructure of the internet.

 April 3, 2014

In a move that will cheer net neutrality advocates, the European Parliament votes to end mobile phone roaming by Christmas 2015, and bars telecom operators from prioritizing some Internet traffic over others as part of a wider vote in support to European Commission’s proposed regulation for a single telecom market called “Connected Continent”.