Abstract
Network Neutrality is the subject of much current debate. In this white paper I try to find the signal in the noise by taking a largely technical look at various definitions of network neutrality and the feasibility and complexity of implementing systems that support those ideas.First off, there are a lot of emotional terms used to describe various aspects of what makes the melting pot of the neutrality debate. For example, censorship or black-holing (where route filtering, fire-walling and port blocking might say what is happening in less insightful way); free-riding is often bandied about to describe the business of making money on the net (rather than overlay service provision); monopolistic tendencies, instead of the natural inclination of an organisation that owns a lot of kit that they've sunk capital into, to want to make revenue from it.The paper describes the basic realities of the net, which has never been a level playing field for many accidental and some deliberate reasons, and then looks at the future evolution of IP (and lower level) services; the evolution of overlay services, and the evolution of the structure of the ISP business space (access, core and other); finally, I appeal to simple minded economic and regulatory arguments to ask whether there is any case at all for <I>special pleading</I> for the Internet as a special case, different from other services, or utilities.Mutatis mutandis.
Index Terms
- Net neutrality: the technical side of the debate: a white paper
Recommendations
Debating net neutrality
A View of Parallel ComputingAdvocates seek to protect users from potential business practices, but defenders of the status quo say that concerns are overblown.
Perspectives on Net Neutrality and Internet Fast-Lanes
"Net neutrality" and Internet "fast-lanes" have been the subject of raging debates for several years now, with various viewpoints put forth by stakeholders (Internet Service Providers, Content Service Providers, and consumers) seeking to influence how ...
Net neutrality
This paper is intended as an introduction to the debate on net neutrality and as a progress report on the growing body of academic literature on this issue. Different non-net neutrality scenarios are discussed and structured along the two dimensions of ...
Comments