net neutrality

noun

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Definition of net neutrality

: the idea, principle, or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source, or destination

… a philosophical contest that's being fought under the banner of "net neutrality," a slogan that inspires rhetorical devotion but eludes precise definition. Broadly, it means everything on the Internet should be equally accessible—that the Internet should be a place where great ideas compete on equal terms with big money.
—Sarah Rabil

Recent Examples of net neutrality from the Web

Kavanaugh himself has pushed the First Amendment even more aggressively than the Supreme Court has, deciding, for example, that net neutrality regulations violate the free speech rights of cable companies.

— matthew yglesias, Vox, "Brett Kavanaugh and the new judicial activism," 12 July 2018
The more rigorous net neutrality provisions will be reinstated through a series of amendments in the next few weeks.

— makena kelly, The Verge, "A revamped California net neutrality bill is moving forward again," 5 July 2018
The Trump administration’s recent decision to kill the Open Internet Order has a lot of net neutrality advocates fearing the worst.

— larry greenemeier, Scientific American, "Net Neutrality Loss Could Rekindle ISP Alternatives for Internet Access," 8 Jan. 2018
If the Supreme Court took them up, Kavanaugh's opposition to regulating internet service providers could close the book on net neutrality protections for a generation.

— issie lapowsky, WIRED, "Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court Could Spell Trouble for Tech," 10 July 2018
But as the vote to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rule shows, Republicans are playing with fire with altering provisions for the legislative filibuster.

— chad pergram, Fox News, "Trump amplifying calls to ditch the legislative filibuster as midterms near," 4 July 2018
In a country where net neutrality has just been repealed, owning the internet connection is a huge advantage, just like owning the cable network would be.

— nilay patel, The Verge, "The court’s decision to let AT&T and Time Warner merge is ridiculously bad," 15 June 2018
Many of the commenters urged the FCC to preserve the government's net neutrality protections, which had treated ISPs similar to utilities.

— Anchorage Daily News, "The Web as you know it may soon be altered," 11 June 2018
The 53-year-old judge recently argued that net neutrality rules violated the free speech rights of internet service providers (ISPs).

— kevin kelleher, Fortune, "Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's Potential Supreme Court Nominee, Is No Friend to Net Neutrality," 10 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'net neutrality.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.