# Net Neutrality Net Neutrality is the principle that internet service providers must treat all online traffic equally, a term coined by Columbia law professor Tim Wu in a 2003 paper that turned into one of the internet's defining activist fights. From Ask A Ninja explainers in 2006 to John Oliver crashing the FCC website twice, the movement drove a decade of memes, mass comment campaigns, and Reddit frontpage takeovers aimed at FCC chairman Ajit Pai. ## Origin The term "network neutrality" was coined by Columbia law professor Tim Wu in a 2003 paper titled "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination," which proposed legislation forcing ISPs to allow unfettered communication between network applications[3]. Earlier open-access work by legal scholar Lawrence Lessig around 2001 shaped the intellectual case for the same idea[9]. In February 2004, FCC chairman Michael Powell issued a set of "Network Freedom" principles listing four consumer freedoms including "freedom to access content" and "freedom to run applications"[9]. On November 8, 2005, Google published a letter to Congress from internet pioneer Vinton Cerf calling on lawmakers to write those principles into law[9]. - **Platform:** Academic paper / Reddit / YouTube (viral spread) - **Creator:** Tim Wu (term coined 2003) - **Date:** 2003 ## Overview The Net Neutrality argument is over whether ISPs like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T can block, throttle, or charge extra for specific web services[2]. Advocates want the internet regulated as a common carrier utility so providers cannot build paid "fast lanes" that favor giants like Netflix or Amazon[4]. Opponents, led during the Trump era by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, called the rules "heavy handed" and blamed them for hurting broadband investment[1]. As a movement, the fight was driven by memes, protest banners, and mass comment tools as much as by legal filings. Reddit frontpage takeovers, John Oliver monologues, "Battle for the Net" widgets, and dogpiles on Senator Ted Cruz gave a dry telecom policy debate a face for mainstream audiences[3]. The recurring visual grammar involves red alert banners, Ajit Pai image macros casting him as bought by Verizon, and countdown-style calls to phone Congress. ## How It Spread Activist infrastructure formed fast. The Free Press advocacy group launched Save the Internet in April 2006, and on May 11, 2006, YouTube channel Ask A Ninja posted a comedy explainer in ninja costume that pulled over 1.1 million views over eight years[3]. On November 5, 2007, the Network Neutrality Squad launched to crowdsource ISP monitoring by regular users[8]. Nine days later, then-Senator Barack Obama gave a Google talk pledging to defend the principle[9]. The FCC opened a fast-lane rulemaking on April 23, 2014, and the fight went viral. On May 5, 2014, YouTuber CGP Grey uploaded "Internet Citizens: Defend Net Neutrality," which cross-posted to /r/videos hit 22,100 upvotes in 10 hours[9]. On June 1, 2014, John Oliver gave a 13-minute Last Week Tonight monologue directing viewers to the FCC comment page, and the site crashed under more than 4 million responses[4]. On November 10, 2014, President Obama released a video urging the FCC to reclassify home internet as a public utility, and hours later Senator Ted Cruz called net neutrality "Obamacare for the Internet," a tweet The Oatmeal mocked with a same-day rebuttal comic[9]. On February 26, 2015, the FCC voted 3-2 to reclassify broadband access as a Title II telecommunications service, banning paid prioritization and giving the agency stronger authority over ISPs[4]. The commissioners split on party lines, and the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME, and NPR framed it as a rare grassroots activist win against the telecom lobby[4]. ## How to Use For the activist toolkit that grew out of the movement, the common moves are pinning a red "Battle for the Net" banner on a website or profile, calling or emailing congressional offices using pre-written scripts, and remixing Ajit Pai photographs into image macros that portray him as corrupt or ISP-owned[5]. The signature format is a dated countdown widget paired with a bright red "internet in danger" call to action, tied to whatever FCC or Senate vote is next on the calendar[7]. ## Cultural Impact The 2015 win didn't hold. After Ajit Pai took over the FCC in January 2017, he unveiled plans to reverse the Title II classification[1]. Oliver ran a second net-neutrality segment on May 7, 2017, and bought the domain GoFCCYourself.com to redirect users past the FCC's clunky comment form; the site crashed within hours[9]. The FCC blamed a DDoS attack, but an August 2018 inspector general report found no such attack had happened[7]. On July 12, 2017, Amazon, Etsy, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Reddit, Vimeo, the ACLU, EFF, and Greenpeace ran a coordinated "Day of Action" with protest banners across their homepages[6]. Missing from the coalition were Apple, Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which had backed earlier campaigns but sat this one out[5]. Slate reported that by mid-November more than 22 million public comments had been filed on the repeal, though many were later shown to be bot-generated, some in the names of dead people[7]. On December 14, 2017, the FCC voted 3-2 to repeal Title II protections. The meeting was briefly evacuated for a security sweep before the vote finished[5]. The rules formally ended on June 11, 2018, and several states, including California, later passed their own net-neutrality bills to fill the federal gap[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Net Neutrality? The principle that internet service providers must treat all online traffic equally, without blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization[2]. ### Where did Net Neutrality come from? Columbia law professor Tim Wu coined the phrase in a 2003 paper titled "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination"[3]. ### What does Net Neutrality mean? It means your ISP cannot decide which apps or sites load faster, slower, or get charged extra for reaching users[2]. ### How do you use Net Neutrality? As an activist frame, the moves are protest banners on websites, mass comments to the FCC, and image macros targeting FCC leadership[5]. ### Is Net Neutrality still popular? The federal Title II framework was repealed on June 11, 2018 and never restored at the federal level, though states like California passed their own rules[5]. ### Who coined the term Net Neutrality? Columbia law professor Tim Wu, in a 2003 paper on broadband discrimination[3]. ### What did John Oliver do for Net Neutrality? He gave 13-minute Last Week Tonight segments in 2014 and 2017 telling viewers to comment on the FCC site, and the FCC site crashed both times[4]. ### Why did Ted Cruz get mocked over Net Neutrality? He tweeted on November 10, 2014 that net neutrality was "Obamacare for the Internet," and Twitter along with The Oatmeal ridiculed the analogy the same day[9]. ### What was the Battle for the Net? A November 2017 coalition campaign that put protest banners on Reddit and other big sites against the FCC's Title II repeal plans[5]. ### When did the FCC repeal Net Neutrality? The commission voted 3-2 on December 14, 2017, and the repeal formally took effect on June 11, 2018[5]. ## References 1. [https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/26/15437840/fcc-plans-end-title-ii-net-neutrality]() 2. [https://www.wired.com/2017/06/end-net-neutrality-shackle-internet-things/]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/net-neutrality]() 4. [https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/02/26/389089145/the-fccs-net-neutrality-vote-heres-what-you-need-to-know]() 5. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/06/net-neutrality-amazon-etsy-kickstarter-protest]() 6. [https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/06/net-neutrality-day-of-action/]() 7. [https://slate.com/technology/2017/11/trump-s-fcc-is-about-to-destroy-net-neutrality.html]() 8. [https://www.nnsquad.org/]() 9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150706012339/http://whatisnetneutrality.org/timeline]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/net-neutrality Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library