Transcript

Panel 1: What exactly is net neutrality? Could it change the way we use the internet?

Panel 2: Northwestern Law Professor James Speta talked with F to help define Net Neutrality.

Panel 3: Speta explained net neutrality is the U.S. government putting rules in place to stop internet providers (e.g., Comcast) from discrimnating against what users access online. But, as he continued, the question becomes is the internet a utility or a means of free speech? Do we think of it more like the railroad system or broadcast TV?

Panel 4: Concerns around net neutrality have existed since the 2000s. But because of the U.S. two-party political system, whether or not net neutrality is implemented changes often. Typically, conservative administrations fight against it, while liberal administrations try to regulate using net neutrality.

Panel 5: Eric Goldman, a law professor at Santa Clara University, offered his perspective on Net Neutrality.

Panel 6: He describes the issue as a “Paper Tiger.” Net discrimination looks scary, but Neutrality advocates watch to keep providers from misbhaving.

Panel 7: “The internet is such an integral player in the Journeys of [young people], but that didn’t come for free,” said Goldman, talking about net neutrality’s larger legal context and his worries about the internet shrinking. On some level, this echos Speta’s questions about who americans trust to control the internet.

Panel 8: It is a balancing act between the providers, the public, and the legal regulations. As of oct. 19 2023, the FCC is reconsidering and moving toward putting certain net neutrality protocols back in place that were removed in 2017. But even then that will not be the end of the net neutrality debate. The wires of legal and tech jargon can feel strangling, but the core of net neutrality returns to the idea of keeping the internet from shrinking.