The internet is a vast and growing wealth of knowledge. There are countless creators and consumers using the internet to share content. Net neutrality is a term for a growing argument that the internet and thus the providers of the network should maintain a neutral position on what content the end user chooses to consume. This is not so much a censorship issue as it is the intent of the network provider or the ISP to degrade the availability of their competitors web content. A network providers bias toward their content; with the intent to increase their fiscal return is unethical and their role must remain neutral. A network physically interfering with the transmission of their competitor’s data to the end user is unethical.
Net neutrality is the principle that the network providers should treat internet traffic equally. A neutral network is one that is free of restrictions on content, sites or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as ones where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication streamsâ€(Washington post)
The telecommunications companies seek to impose the tiered service model more for the purpose of profiting from their control of the pipeline rather than demand for their content or services. This approach allows higher fees for quality of service as long as there is no exclusivity in service contracts. According to Tim Berners-Lee “If I pay to connect to the Net with a given quality of service, and you pay to connect to the net with the same or higher quality of service, then you and I can communicate across the net, with that quality of service.” The Internet is not the only networked utility that abides by neutrality; the electric grid was developed and continued to innovate in much the same way that the internet has. “The electric grid is implicitly built on a neutrality theory, the grid doses not respond differently if you plug in a toaster, an iron, or a computer. Consequently it has survived and supported giant waves of innovation in the appliance market.â€(Wu) Current network tiering would be similar to the electric company developing its own line of appliances. The electric company would then allow only those appliances to continue to work at the users current cost but tierring the grid so that their competitors appliances could work again on the grid if the user paid a greater price.
Your Internet Service Provider acts as a gateway between the user and the Internet. It is the pipeline that enables you to access everything from your e-mail to remote file servers where you back up your important data not to mention browsing the Web. With a neutral broadband network an ISP would not be able to restrict access to parts of the internet that they find inconvenient. Comcast has also been taking actions to cut back on peer-to-peer usage across its network. “Last year, Comcast began throttling P2P traffic, especially Bit Torrent usage. The company says it’s trying to provide a better online experience for all users by keeping its network from becoming clogged with P2P traffic. †(Macworld) The users and consumers are not the only ones who will face these problems; “In reaction to companies including Google as well as smaller companies starting to offer free video content using substantial amounts of bandwidth. At least one ISP, SBC Communications, has suggested that it should have the right to charge these companies for making their content available over the provider’s network†(PFF.ORG) This is essentially double dipping. The content providers, the producers are already paying huge bandwidth fees to make that content available.
According to The internet non discrimination act of 2006 Introduced by Ron Wyden “network operators will be barred from blocking or degrading internet connections in favoring those of companies who pay for more bandwidth†in other words no two tiered internet. Though this legislator was stalled the Senator Wyden’s proposed legislation was a step in the right direction toward the issue of net neutrality. When what we know of today as the World Wide Web was first created net neutrality was an inherent principle in the design of the network. Other legislation currently being backed by companies such as Comcast Verizon and AT&T, would allow network providers to create different tiers of online service. “They would be able to sell access to the express lane to deep-pocketed corporations and relegate everyone else to the digital equivalent of a winding dirt roadâ€.(MacWorld) In order for the internet to maintain a fair use principle there must be a law that maintains network neutrality.
For innovation to continue on the internet the network providers will have to adopt a policy of network neutrality. The net work provider physically interfering with the transmission of their competitor’s data to the end user is unethical. The internet is a vast and growing wealth of knowledge. There are countless creators and consumers using the internet to share content and it is imperative to the structure of that network that it maintain integrity.