Network Neutrality - Definitions of Network Neutrality

Definitions of Network Neutrality

At its simplest, network neutrality is the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Net neutrality advocates have established different definitions of network neutrality:

Absolute non-discrimination

Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu: "Network neutrality is best defined as a network design principle. The idea is that a maximally useful public information network aspires to treat all content, sites, and platforms equally."

Limited discrimination without QoS tiering

United States lawmakers have introduced bills that would now allow quality of service discrimination as long as no special fee is charged for higher-quality service.

Limited discrimination and tiering

This approach allows higher fees for QoS as long as there is no exclusivity in service contracts. According to Tim Berners-Lee: "If I pay to connect to the Net with a given quality of service, and you pay to connect to the net with the same or higher quality of service, then you and I can communicate across the net, with that quality and quantity of service." " each pay to connect to the Net, but no one can pay for exclusive access to me."

First come first served

According to Imprint Magazine, Cardozo Law School professor Susan P. Crawford "believes that a neutral Internet must forward packets on a first-come, first served basis, without regard for quality-of-service considerations."