What's Net Neutrality?

Network Neutrality, or Net Neutrality for short, is the fundamental principle that preserves the free and open Internet.

Net Neutrality simply means no discrimination. It prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Net Neutrality has always been part of the Internet. In fact, it's because of Net Neutrality that the Internet has driven economic innovation, democratic participation and free speech online. Net Neutrality protects the consumer's right to use any equipment, content, application or service without interference from the network provider.

Learn more about Net Neutrality.

Who Wants to Get Rid of Net Neutrality?

The nation's largest telephone and cable companies, including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all.

These companies want to tax content providers to guarantee speedy delivery of their data. And they want to discriminate in favor of their own search engines, Internet phone services and streaming video -- while slowing down or blocking services offered by their competitors.

Instead of a level playing field, they want to reserve express lanes for their own content and services -- or those of big corporations that can afford to pay steep tolls -- and leave the rest of us on a winding dirt road.

These companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to get rid of Net Neutrality, putting the future of the Internet at risk.

What's at Stake if We Lose Net Neutrality?

The consequences of a world without Net Neutrality would be devastating. Innovation would be stifled, competition limited, and access to information restricted. Consumer choice and the free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporations.

On the Internet, consumers are in ultimate control -- deciding between content, applications and services available anywhere, no matter who owns the network. There's no middleman. But without Net Neutrality, the Internet will look more like cable TV. Network owners will decide which channels, content and applications are available; consumers will have to choose from their menu.

The Internet has always been driven by innovation. Web sites and services succeed or fail on their own merits. Without Net Neutrality, decisions now made collectively by millions of users will be made in corporate boardrooms. The choice we face now is whether we can choose the content and services we want, or whether Internet gatekeepers will choose for us.

Protecting Net Neutrality

Through the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, and through our policy, law and research teams in Washington, Free Press is working to protect Internet freedom and enshrine Net Neutrality into law.

• Read Deep Packet Inspection: The End of the Internet As We Know It?.
  In this report, Free Press explains how the use of Deep Packet Inspection by Internet service providers is changing the Internet from an open and innovative platform into just another form of pay-for-play media.
  
• Learn how to separate the myths from the realities in our report, Network Neutrality: Fact vs. Fiction.

In Congress

The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 was introduced by Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) This landmark legislation would protect Network Neutrality under the Communications Act, safeguarding the future of the open Internet and protecting Internet users from discrimination online.

• Read the bill here.
  
• Read our press release.
  
• Take action: Tell Congress to Pass Net Neutrality Now.

At the FCC

The FCC plays a critical role in ensuring that consumers have access to an open and neutral Internet. The agency makes rules and investigates Net Neutrality violations.

• Read comments by Free Press on the FCC's national broadband plan to bring high-speed Internet to all Americans. Or, read the press release.

And you can click here to read the Comcast filings, Free Press' comments, petitions and testimony on cable giant Comcast. The company violated Net Neutrality by illegally interfering with its customers' Internet traffic.

Read the Comcast filings and other FCC materials on Net Neutrality here.