Net Neutrality Threatened: The Issues Summarized

On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. equivalent of our CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), voted to repeal a number of regulations adopted in 2015 to protect what is commonly called "net neutrality". The purpose of net neutrality is to safeguard equal access to any content posted online so as not to favour users with the means to pay more to see their content placed in a privileged position. The Internet has become the platform of choice for the exchange and sharing of ideas, and net neutrality advocates speak about a real attack on freedom of speech on the web that could have a tangible commercial impact on businesses that depend on the Internet and bandwidth for their commercial activities.