DOWNLOAD VIDEO Note: Please use the segment of the video from 1:24-1:56, which addresses net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission has voted 3-2 in support of net neutrality, approving new rules to protect equal access to the Internet. The vote deemed the Internet a “public utility” and requires Internet service providers to conduct business in a “just and reasonable” manner for consumers, treating all traffic equally. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that net neutrality required FCC protection. “The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. It is simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field…The Internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules,” he said . The Internet has generally operated under neutrality, in which Internet service providers transmit all traffic equally and at the same cost. But last January, a court said the FCC would be required for the first time to choose between classifying the Internet as a “common carrier,” which protects net neutrality, or as an “information service,” which would have enabled Internet service providers to charge for better service. Over four million people submitted comments to the FCC on the topic, and President Obama voiced his support for net neutrality. Free speech advocates said that abandoning net neutrality would negatively affect smaller, Internet-based activists and businesses that would not be able to afford high-speed traffic. "This is a victory for free speech, plain and simple,” Gabe Rottman, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said . The dissenting judges said the FCC should not regulate Internet service providers and that the decision would discourage innovation among businesses.

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Warm up questions

1. How does the Internet work?


2. List the companies who play a large role in how you access the Internet and what you are able to do on your electronic devices.


3. What is the relationship between how the Internet works and free speech?


4. What are public utilities, and how do you use them in your everyday life?

Critical thinking questions

1. How much of the day do you spend online? How would your life be affected if you could only spend part of that time online (for example, half)?


2. What would be some consequences if Internet providers charged companies for faster data delivery? Which companies would be most affected by this policy?


3. The dissenting judges said the new ruling will discourage innovation. What are their reasons? Do you agree or disagree with them?