US backing for two-tier internet
This is issue is not going away anytime soon, despite the fact that it lingers on the back burner; yesterday's news put it back on the front burner!! - V
There are fears that ISPs could become the web's gatekeepers
The US Justice Department has said that internet service providers should be allowed to charge for priority traffic.
The agency said it was opposed to "network neutrality", the idea that all data on the net is treated equally.
The comments put the agency at odds with companies such as Microsoft and Google, who have called for legislation to guarantee equal access to the net.
The agency submitted its comments to the Federal Communications Commission, which is investigating net access.
Several US internet service providers (ISPs), including AT&T and Verizon, have previously said that they want to charge some users more money for certain content.
This has particularly become an issue with the rise of TV and film download services.
A similar debate is ongoing in the UK.
One web
The Justice Department said imposing net neutrality regulations could hinder development of the internet and prevent ISPs from upgrading networks.
The agency said it could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers".
"Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities," said Thomas Barnett, the department's antitrust chief.
The agency's stance is contrary to much of the internet community that believes in an open model for the internet.
Net neutrality advocates argue that a two-tier internet would allow broadband providers to become gatekeepers to the web's content.
Providers that can pay will be able to get a commercial advantage over those that cannot, they say.
In particular, there is a fear that institutions like universities and charities would suffer.
Last year, Sir Tim Berners-Lee the inventor of the web rallied against the idea of a two-tier internet.
"What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web," he said.
"Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring."
[In 1989 he invented the World Wide Web, an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. He wrote the first web client and server in 1990. His specifications of URIs, HTTP and HTML were refined as Web technology spread.
For a transcript of his testimony before Congress, click HERE.]
See also: http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/6153
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2180557,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2170847,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2168915,00.asp
SavetheInternet.com
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., introduced a bill in January intended to preserve net neutrality. It was sent to the Senate Commerce Committee but has yet to see any action.
| [Special Section on Net Neutrality] Introduction: The State of the Debate on Network Neutrality | |
| Jon M. Peha, William H. Lehr, Simon Wilkie | pp.8 |
| [Special Section on Net Neutrality] Network Neutrality: Words of Power and 800-Pound Gorillas | |
| David D. Clark | pp.8 |
| [Special Section on Net Neutrality] Network Neutrality: The Debate Evolves | Abstract PDF |
| Gerald R. Faulhaber | pp.21 |
From publicknowledge.org today:
Earlier today (Sept. 6), the Justice Department filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing Net Neutrality. The DoJ, supposedly the protector of consumers and guardian of competition, said that “market forces” were sufficient to do both of those jobs.
That view, of course, is nonsense. Perhaps the DoJ failed to recall that there are no “market forces,” and that the market for broadband services is controlled by two industries and that consumers have very little choice. Just how little choice we have was made clear to me earlier this summer.
*snip*
There’s only one force powerful enough to combat all these weapons. You. You have to ask your member of Congress and your Senator, “Why don’t we have the same choice for the Internet that people in England do?” You have to ask what your representatives are going to do about this deplorable situation. And you have to keep on asking until there’s an answer.
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