The Scoop on Net Neutrality

In the New York Times article "Internet Taxes, Another Window Into the Net Neutrality Debate," Steve Lohr outlines how legislators feel a tax ban on high-speed internet service will further the discussion on net neutrality.

Learn these 20 words to assist you in the understanding of net neutrality, the concept that all Internet data should be treated equally by Internet service providers.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. bipartisan
    supported by both sides
    In a rare act of bipartisan unity, Republican and Democratic senators last week presented legislation that would permanently ban taxes on high-speed Internet service to American homes.
  2. legislation
    the act of making or enacting laws
    In a rare act of bipartisan unity, Republican and Democratic senators last week presented legislation that would permanently ban taxes on high-speed Internet service to American homes.
  3. ban
    prohibit especially by law or social pressure
    In a rare act of bipartisan unity, Republican and Democratic senators last week presented legislation that would permanently ban taxes on high-speed Internet service to American homes.
  4. prohibition
    the action of forbidding
    The legislation would make permanent a prohibition originally enacted in 1998, the Internet Tax Freedom Act, and reauthorized periodically since.
  5. federal
    national
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  6. communications
    the discipline that studies transmitting information
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  7. commission
    the act of granting authority to undertake certain functions
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  8. utility
    a company that performs a public service
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  9. protect
    shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  10. neutrality
    nonparticipation in a dispute or war
    But the Senate move came shortly after Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, proposed strong, utility-style rules to protect an open Internet, or net neutrality.
  11. regulation
    the act of bringing to uniformity
    That reignited the debate over whether regulation plucked from the telephone playbook, called Title II, would open the door to the imposition of state and local taxes and fees — the litany of charges on monthly phone bills.
  12. viability
    the capacity to be done in a practical and useful way
    It was needed, Mr. Wyden said in a statement, to “protect the openness and viability of the Internet as a platform for commerce, speech, and the exchange of ideas.”
  13. commerce
    transactions supplying goods and services
    It was needed, Mr. Wyden said in a statement, to “protect the openness and viability of the Internet as a platform for commerce, speech, and the exchange of ideas.”
  14. entrepreneur
    someone who organizes a business venture
    “For 21st century innovators and entrepreneurs, the Internet is their lifeblood,” Mr. Thune said.
  15. principle
    a basic generalization that is accepted as true
    The senator has prepared legislation that embraces the principles of net neutrality, including a ban on blocking web traffic or offering pay-to-play fast lanes for those who can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else.
  16. substantial
    real; having a material or factual existence
    AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for the senator, said in a statement on Thursday that net tax freedom law “eliminates a substantial amount of Internet access taxes, however it does not prohibit states and municipalities from levying new fees in a Title II world.”
  17. consumer
    a person who uses goods or services
    Mr. Singer is the co-author, with Robert Litan, an economist and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, of a recent study that estimated the potential cost to consumers of Title II regulation of Internet service.
  18. funding
    financial resources provided to make some project possible
    A spokesman for the institute, Cody Tucker, would not identify its financial backers, but he said that the research organization receives more funding from foundations, individuals and corporations that support Title II classification for broadband Internet service than oppose it.)
  19. pitfall
    an unforeseen or unexpected or surprising difficulty
    The potential pitfall, Mr. Singer said, is that the Internet tax freedom law mainly bans “general sales taxes,” but there is still room for states and municipalities to assess fees that are related to the “obligations of a telecommunications provider.”
  20. database
    an organized body of related information
    In their study, the two economists assembled a database of the taxes and fees states place on phone bills, and then assumed those charges would be levied proportionately on Internet broadband service.
Created on Mon Feb 23 14:51:36 EST 2015 (updated Tue Feb 24 08:08:04 EST 2015)

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