There’s already been a lot of talk, and controversy, surrounding this topic, so there’s a good chance you may have already heard about it. But for the benefit of those who haven’t, it’s important enough to run through again quickly:
Net neutrality is a general term for legislation in the U.S. Congress that would apply “common carrier rules” to Internet service providers (ISPs) and broadband carriers. In other words, ISPs would be required to manage all Internet traffic on equal terms and ensure that all web content remains equally accessible to all users.
If the net neutrality provisions fail, service providers will have the ability to give priority or preference to specific companies and their websites—a power they don’t currently have.
So what’s wrong with that? Big name companies with large revenues will be able to pay for service, while free community-based sites (such as Craigslist) would be overshadowed. Although it’s true that Craigslist is large enough at this point that they may not be damaged by these new rules, the free Web environment that allowed them to be created would be gone. There would very likely be no new sites like Craigslist.
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