What Net Neutrality Means To You

Yesterday we mentioned how the FCC was planning on killing Net Neutrality. We realize that this is perhaps a little bit on the technical side and some explanation of what it means might be helpful. Basically Net Neutrality is what prevents your Internet provider from charging you extra for the services provided by others. Without Net Neutrality your Internet provider can charge you extra to use Netflix, Amazon Prime, your favorite online game, or even your work VPN. Your Internet provider could even break up your Internet access into specific plans, similar to what is done with cable television, but unlike with cable it would not actually pay for any of the services provided by those plans and so would just pocket the profits. It is analogous to the idea of your power company being allowed to monitor how you were using your electricity and charging you more for activities like watching television or listening to music, or even offering plans that provided limits on how much of each usage type you were allowed, even though there is no cost difference to the power company at all.