A New Vocabularity for Net Neutrality ⇥ twitter.com

DeRay Mckesson:

Does someone have a better name than “net neutrality” to describe the issue? It’s not resonating with people at all.

Mckesson is right: net neutrality needs a more effective name. However, more than not resonating, I think the almost bureaucratic wording of the phrase “net neutrality” has allowed it to become politically twisted and skewed. Remember this word salad tweet from Ted Cruz in 2014?

“Net Neutrality” is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government.

This doesn’t even come close to making sense.

Mckesson’s followers chimed in with great suggestions for clearer and more direct messaging. “Internet freedom” and “internet liberty” were common terms, both of which sound very American. If I got to vote for a name, though, it would likely be for “net equality”. Instead of erring on the side of describing how traffic is treated, “net equality” promotes the effect of network neutrality. More than that, it makes clear what net neutrality advocates are protesting: network inequality proposed by ISPs.