Net neutrality basically says, these are the legally acceptable network protocols and architectures. It inevitably requires a specific technical definition of acceptable traffic patterns and network uses, either by Congress or by case law.

So much of what we think about neutrality is based on a hand-wavy assumption of natural monopolies, that our current lack of last-mile competition is inevitable. At different times, we thought the same of package delivery, voice calling, sending messages. The things that obviated them were not obvious, a la “faster horses”.

Thought about this way, neutrality legislation actually locks in the incumbents’ current arrangements instead of opening them to (so far unimagined) asymmetric competition.