Netowork Neutrality
Does it Rock or Smell like Dirty Socks?
Introduction
A principle for residential BroadBand NetworksAs of right now the entire internet runs on a
neutrally setup network. This means that all of
the content, webpages, and companies are
treated equally as pertains to viewing power.
People who post insane videos of themselves
doing whatever they please gets the same rights
as companies such as McDonalds and Pepsi
spend up to 500,000,000 dollars in advertising
(http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?
u=owned ).
Evolution of The Principle
The best description of the internet’s beginning
that we can find comes from Vint Cerf of internet
protocol when he said, "The Internet was
designed with no gatekeepers over new content
or services. A lightweight but enforceable
neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the
Internet continues to thrive." It hasn’t been until
recent years that big companies have come out to
try to use what we call “last mile” tactics to block
opposing company’s internet privileges.
“Last Mile”
• Meaning no more than as the demand of
internet sharing capabilities has escalated, the
need for high speed internet access at millions
of locations has increased also. As
requirements have changed, existing systems
and networks which were initially pressed into
service for this purpose have proved to be
inadequate. No one has been able to fix this
problem but merely give it the name “last
mile.”
Evolution of The Principle
The best description of the internet’s beginning that we can find
comes from Vint Cerf of internet protocol when he said, "The
Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or
services. A lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to
ensure that the Internet continues to thrive." It hasn’t been until
recent years that big companies have come out to try to use what
we call “last mile” tactics to block opposing company’s internet
privileges.
Needless to say, before this problem existed there was little to no
mention of moving from network neutrality to a closed system but
since its flare up in the early part of 2000 a careful examination of
all aspects of the argument has become essential.
Current Status
• Net neutrality is a major issue as the U.S. considers new
telecommunications laws. The U.S. House of
Representatives passed its telecommunications bill, H.R.
5252, in May, without adequate net neutrality protections.
Now the fight has moved to U.S. Senate. On June 28, the
Senate Commerce Committee passed its own telecom bill,
S. 2686. While an amendment to the bill that would have
added meaningful net neutrality safeguards failed 11-11,
this tie vote marks a significant political victory and gives
the effort new momentum. The debate now shifts to the
full Senate, where advocates will be working to get strong
net neutrality language is any bill that the Senate considers.
http://www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html
Advantages
If net neutrality becomes law, it would
prevent big companies from locking in an
advantage at the residential level- giving
certain types of data privileged status.
If it doesn’t, Companies that can now afford
to shell out billions of dollars to invest in the
network have an instant advantage on others
when dealing with businesses that need
instantaneous results from their networking.
Disadvantages
If the internet were truly neutral many of us
would spend a lot more time waiting for our
results from searches and different
downloading layouts (such as cnet).
Some claim that small businesses would stretch
more and come up with other ways to fill the
void that was left deep pocketing.
Thoughts
We would have to say that the use of a completely
neutral internet have both its ups and downs, yet
to take away our freedom of speech through
corporate investments is wrong. It would be as if
the phone company would tell us with whom and
about what we could talk. If the dictates of the
internet were based on investing what is deemed
expectable to view would not be set by popular
opinion but by financial depth. The bill to change
the internet from a completely neutral network
most not be passed.