Editing Net neutrality (section)

===Internet neutrality===
Network neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.macworld.com/article/132075/2008/02/netneutrality1.html|title=Inside Net Neutrality: Is your ISP filtering content?|access-date=26 December 2008|last=Honan|first=Matthew|date=12 February 2008|work=MacWorld|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218093225/http://www.macworld.com/article/132075/2008/02/netneutrality1.html|archive-date=18 December 2008}}</ref> According to [[Columbia Law School]] professor [[Tim Wu]], a public information network will be most useful when this is the case.<ref name="wu-def">{{cite web|url=http://timwu.org/network_neutrality.html|title=Network Neutrality FAQ|access-date=26 December 2008|last=Wu|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Wu|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216141832/http://timwu.org/network_neutrality.html|archive-date=16 December 2008}}</ref>

Internet traffic consists of various types of digital data sent over the Internet between all kinds of devices (e.g., data center servers, personal computers, [[mobile device]]s, [[video game console]]s, etc.), using hundreds of different transfer technologies. The data includes email messages; [[HTML]], [[JSON]], and all related web browser [[MIME]] content types; text, word processing, spreadsheet, database and other academic, business or personal documents in any conceivable format; [[Digital audio|audio]] and [[Digital video|video]] files; [[streaming media]] content; and countless other formal, proprietary, or ad-hoc [[file format|schematic formats]]—all transmitted via myriad [[Communication protocol|transfer protocols]].

Indeed, while the focus is often on the ''type'' of digital content being transferred, network neutrality includes the idea that if all such ''types'' are to be treated equally, then it follows that any ostensibly arbitrary choice of ''protocol''—that is, the technical details of the actual communications transaction itself—must be as well. For example, the same digital video file could be accessed by viewing it live while the data is being received ([[HTTP Live Streaming|HLS]]), interacting with its playback from a remote server ([[Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP|DASH]]), by receiving it in an email message ([[SMTP]]), or by downloading it from either a website ([[HTTP]]), an [[FTP]] server, or via [[BitTorrent]], among other means. Although all of these use the Internet for transport, and the content received locally is ultimately identical, the interim data traffic is dramatically different depending on which transfer method is used. To proponents of net neutrality, this suggests that prioritizing any one transfer protocol over another is generally unprincipled, or that doing so penalizes the free choices of some users.

In sum, net neutrality is the principle that an ISP be required to provide access to all sites, content, and applications at the same speed, under the same conditions, without blocking or giving preference to any content. Under net neutrality, whether a user connects to Netflix, Wikipedia, YouTube, or a family blog, their ISP must treat them all the same.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestreet.com/technology/what-is-net-neutrality-14816850|title=What Is Net Neutrality and Why Is it Important?|first=Eric|last=Reed|website=TheStreet|access-date=27 June 2019|archive-date=30 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530193021/https://www.thestreet.com/technology/what-is-net-neutrality-14816850|url-status=live}}</ref> Without net neutrality, an ISP can influence the quality that each experience offers to end users, which suggests a regime of [[pay-to-play]], where content providers can be charged to improve the exposure of their own products versus those of their competitors.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.popsci.com/net-neutrality-is-under-attack-heres-why-we-need-to-protect-it/|title=Net neutrality is under threat (again). Here's why you should care|date=18 March 2019|access-date=13 October 2020|archive-date=17 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017131506/https://www.popsci.com/net-neutrality-is-under-attack-heres-why-we-need-to-protect-it/|url-status=live}}</ref>