So what is net neutrality anyways? To understand what it is, one needs a basic framework of how the internet works. There are two main parts to what most people think of when they hear the word "internet"; there's the physical network of computers and there's the World Wide Web. The physical network is actually pretty simple to understand. You start with your physical computer, the one you're using right now. That connects to a modem, which connects to your internet service provider's (ISP) lines. These are the same lines that can deliver phone and cable to your home. The ISP is connected to the physical web, which can direct information to any specific server you might want to connect to.

That's the physical internet, a connection from your computer, to your ISP, to other servers and back to your computer. But what about the websites we all visit, the actual web? The web is the software side of the online world, while the internet itself is the hardware, the cables and computers. The main thing to take away from the virtual Web is that it is the data being transferred through the physical servers, ISPs, cables, and modems to your computer.

So what is net neutrality then? Net neutrality is the idea that all of this data making up the world wide web should be treated and transferred equally by the ISPs. More on that in the next post.