Moderators Dragos Posted December 22, 2010 Moderators Report Posted December 22, 2010 The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted three-to-two to adopt so-called "Net neutrality" rules, giving the agency regulatory power to protect the free flow of information over the Internet.Broadly speaking, Net neutrality means that all content on the Internet must be treated equally. That means that Internet providers like Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) and Time Warner Cable (TWC, Fortune 500) can't deliver Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) faster than eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500), and can't simply block access to sites like Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu. In other words: Net neutrality means maintaining the status quo of how people use the Internet today.So if the FCC wants nothing to change, why does it think the Internet needs stricter regulation? Because the Internet is changing. The rapid growth of online video from YouTube, Netflix and Skype is sucking up bandwidth, making it difficult for Internet providers to give speedy service to all of their customers.Most Internet providers haven't taken any action yet. But in one prominent instance, they did: Comcast blocked usage of some peer-to-peer (P2P) networks in 2007. Customers typically use those networks to transmit very large files, like full-length, high-definition movies. Gimmie YouTube! What FCC Net neutrality rules mean for you - Dec. 21, 2010 Quote
