The issue of net neutrality has is over a decade in the making, and as such has developed into something that is more than bit too complicated to be covered to a point of satisfaction here, on my humble blog. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t at least try to talk about it. I first heard about the issue about 4 years ago, at time when their was a wide spread movement for activism calling for the protection of net neutrality across the Internet. But the conversation of Net Neutrality started more than a decade before I stumbled across the term

In a lot of ways you could really claim that the idea of net neutrality a birthed along side the birth of the internet, but the term wasn’t officially coined until early January 2003 by Tim Wu, a Professor of Law. This came on the heels of the first FCC decision regarding how to treat/ regulate ISP providers, when they decided in October of 2002 to treat basic cable internet access providers different than DSL internet providers. Following this decision, not much happened with the FCC and net neutrality for a few years, until early 2005 when the FCC ruled that ISP providers could not block VoIP from their customers. This ruling would be representative of future debates over what services ISP providers could and couldn’t exclude from their customers. As Technology progressed, the FCC ruled similarly that video-voice calls could not be blocked by ISP providers either, most notably ATT’s attempts to prevent its customers from using the FaceTime feature on the iPhone.

Most recently was the FCC decision to protect the internet by classifying internet under Title II of the Communications Act. This essentially ensures that practices such as app/site blocking, speed-throttling, and paid ‘fast-lanes’ are illegal for ISP providers. In theory, from what I understand of the situation, this should be marked as a victory for Internet users and consumers everywhere, as well as most people who’s work is somehow involved with the internet.

If I’m going to be honest however, this makes me a little nervous too. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for net neutrality, and was long before I ever planned on entering the professional world with my sights set somewhere in the online industry. But are we really able to trust the FCC to have our best interest as consumers? After all the current chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, is a former lobbyist for ISP providers. In his defense, he was one of the leaders in getting the Title II classification. Is this just a consolidation of power? or is it really an attempt to protect the interests of consumers? I guess only time will tell.

Source: Net Neutrality Timeline