“Net neutrality” — you hear those two words a lot these days. President Obama is for it. "An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life," writes the president in a recent statement asking the Federal Communcations Commission to issue rules to protect it. Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon seem to be mostly against it. And, it seems everyone's got an opinion about it, even comedian John Oliver. “Net neutrality is actually hugely important," Oliver says. "Essentially it means that all data has to be treated equally no matter who creates it. It's why the Internet is a weirdly level playing field and start-ups can supplant established brands. That's how Facebook supplanted Myspace, which supplanted Friendster, which supplanted having any friends." Joking aside what exactly is net neutrality? To understand the concept of net neutrality you first have to understand the backdrop of the Internet itself, says Jonathan Zittrain w
