Network Neutrality
From BinaryFreedom.INFO
The term Network Neutrality has a more general meaning, but is commonly used to refer to the idea that all information traveling across the Internet Backbone is treated equally. Currently in the United States and other countries, the Internet behaves in this fashion. A web page request is treated the same as streaming media. Data from one source does not have priority over data from another source when traversing the Internet.
[edit] Current Legislation
Large telecommunications companies are currently lobbing for this to change. They say that other large companies, like Google for instance, who send massive amounts of data over the Internet are "getting a free ride." Their plan is to introduce a tiered service, charging fees for faster service.
[edit] Concerns
Many agree that a tiered Internet would not be a good thing. There are several reasons:
- One concern is that a tiered Internet will prevent independent voices from being heard. If the large telecommunications companies are allowed to charge a fee for fast service, it is not likely that the average citizen will be able to afford it. If this is the case, when a user attempts to view the weblog of an average citizen it might load very slowly. However, when the same user requests a web page from a large corporation that can afford these proposed fees, it will probably load much faster. This situation will give large companies an unfair advantage and stifle independent media, news, and opinions.
- Another concern is corruption. All of the telecommunications companies that own the infrastructure that make up the Internet Backbone (the people who would be receiving these fee for tiered service) offer many online services, such as search engines, webmail, media, VoIP, and almost any other common online service. A tiered Internet would create a situation in which a group of companies (the telecommunications companies) would be in control of the quality of service of their competitors (Google, yahoo, and anyone else who offers competing services).
- A problem that has happened on a smaller scale (within ISPs) in the past is the blocking of sources that are critical of a service provider. One fear is that these telecommunications companies, if given more control, will abuse it to silence critics.
