The Tangled Web of Net Neutrality and Regulation
The Tangled Web of Net Neutrality and Regulation







	

			
		

	


		

Less regulation could mean more openness.
		
	

		



	March 31, 2017


	

			




	





	




	
	
		
			
				
						
	
	

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		Part of what makes net neutrality such a difficult issue to unravel is that there’s still so much confusion around what exactly it is. This piece explores some of the most important questions looming ahead about net neutrality and the 2015 Open Internet Order, which grounded the rules in 1930s-era public utility law. The author makes the case that most efforts to regulate the internet make things worse in the long term — and sometimes, in the short term as well. He goes on to make several recommendations for more effective ways that business leaders and policymakers can approach this thorny issue in the months and years to come.

	

					
						
	
	
		
			
				
						
	
	

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								Net neutrality is a basic, but notoriously squishy, principle. It means that a broadband internet provider should not block, slow, or otherwise unfairly discriminate against any websites or online services. Despite being a simple idea, net neutrality has proven difficult to translate into U.S. policy. It sits uncomfortably at the intersection of highly technical internet architecture and equally complex principles of administrative law. Even the term “net neutrality” was coined not by an engineer but by a legal academic, in 2003.
						

					
				


		

	




				