Ed. Note: This post by Prateek Surisetti is a part of the TLF Editorial Board Test 2018
Put very simply, a neutral network is one in which both the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and other actors are effectively blind to the content that is being put on the internet. The debate surrounding network neutrality has arisen only recently because earlier, ISPs could not identify the nature of data that was moving through its networks. Now, with the advancement of technology in the form of “Deep Packet Inspection”, ISPs can, at least as far as technology is concerned, differentiate between the various kinds of data on their networks. Also, they will be able to understand the amount of data that is being transferred from a particular server or source. In other words, an ISP can determine exactly the extent of data its users are accessing from a content provider (CP), such as Netflix or YouTube.