Net Neutrality and the Debate Over Who Owns the Internet

After the FCC was defeated in court, Internet users and activists have been wringing their hands over net neutrality. Netflix has been paying for better service, and civil rights groups have been warning that a “slow lane” could disenfranchise citizens. But the bigger question up for debate is: Who actually owns the Internet?

Aside from the concerns of running out of IP addresses or domain names, there’s the debate about content and infrastructure ownership. Facebook and Google own massive data centers — as do large back-end providers like Amazon.