What it means

The overarching idea of net neutrality is that internet service providers should not speed up, slow down or block online traffic, and treat all websites and apps equally. THE OBAMA- ERA RULES

President Barack Obama described four key principles in 2014. The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to implement them in 2015.

No blocking: Internet service providers should not be allowed to block legal content requested by a consumer.

No throttling: Providers should not be allowed to slow down certain types of traffic while letting others upload or download at full speed.

Interconnection regulations: The internet relies on interconnections between service and content providers. At those interconnection points, traffic can also be sped up or slowed down, so net neutrality proponents believe those should also be monitored. For example, in 2013 and 2014, Netflix and Comcast had a dispute over interconnection agreements that resulted in slow video streams and a lot of customer complaints. Netflix reluctantly struck a deal to pay Comcast for traffic, later complaining to the Federal Communications Commission that it had been forced into the agreement.

No paid priority: Broadband providers could speed up services they own — think of AT& T, which now owns HBO, speeding up “Game of Thrones” streams. They could also charge other businesses for faster delivery of web traffic. Net neutrality prohibits “fast lane” treatment like this. WIENER’S BILL ( SB822)

In December, the commission, now led by Trump appointee Chairman Ajit Pai, voted to overturn those rules, arguing that they were not needed to protect consumers and preserve competition. In January, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D- San Francisco, introduced SB822, a bill to reimplement and extend the Obama net neutrality principles. Here’s what he added.

No zero rating: The bill bans a controversial internet practice where providers give users access to certain services without having to use up their monthly data allotments or pay by the gigabyte, essentially making favored services cheaper than competitors.

State oversight of interconnections: The bill gives California regulatory oversight of internet agreements. THE SANTIAGO AMENDMENTS

An Assembly committee voted 8- 0 Wednesday to remove the zero rating ban and the regulation of interconnections from SB822.