this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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That's not at all what it does.
A Utility is a government sanctioned monopoly. Think electricity, landline phone, natural gas, trash collection. To classify ISPs as Utilities, would open up a whole new level of regulatory oversight. They would be required to provide the same level of service to every residence in the given area. They would have to ask the local government for permission to raise rates, some places that even goes to a public vote. Imagine, being able to vote on your internet rate!
No. net neutrality rules are not even close to reclassifying ISPs as a utility.
I think it's easier to understand net neutrality as something ISP's can't do rather than something they must do, since we've never seen them really act on it before. It just means they can't speed up or slow down your internet based on what websites you're visiting. Under net neutrality, there can never be a deal with Google to give people faster speeds using Google searches than Bing or DuckDuckGo searches.