Net neutrality is the simple principle that the Internet should be a level playing field. Eliminating net neutrality would stifle competition, speech, and innovation in every industry. More specifically, a net neutrality rule would forbid companies who provide access to the Internet, such as phone and cable companies, from blocking websites and applications, from engaging in application-specific technical discrimination biasing the network in favor of some websites or applications, and from charging new tolls on websites and applications merely to reach users or to have "fast lanes" or other network preferences.
In May, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed to allow technical discrimination and paid fast lanes. The Chairman's proposal would inhibit innovation, competition, and freedom of expression. The companies which can afford to pay for fast lanes are big, established companies. Little guys—startups, non-profits, average individuals—can't. So fast lanes give incumbents an additional advantage, perhaps a decisive one. That harms both entrepreneurs and consumers, and it puts the Internet—now the most democratic platform for commerce and speech—within the power of of just a few large cable and phone companies.
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