Net neutrality: What it is, and why it matters

Federal regulators are about to vote on a bold new plan to institute network neutrality. But despite the profound impact that the process may have on the future of the Internet, poll after poll shows that most Americans still don’t know what net neutrality is, or what the Federal Communications Commission is planning to do. On Feb 26, the FCC will vote to institute the toughest net neutrality rules the US has ever seen.

The rules would reverse a 2002 decision to regulate high-speed broadband Internet connections as an “information service” and instead call it a “telecommunications service” similar to phone lines, over which it has more authority. The rules will apply to people’s access to the Internet over both wired Internet connections and wirelessly through their phones and tablets. They will also give the FCC the power to monitor how Web traffic is handed off between companies on the back end of the Internet -- a technical process that was at the center of heated disputes between Netflix and various Web providers in 2014.