Wikipedia defines Network Neutrality as the following:
Network neutrality is a principle of internet regulation with particular relevance to the regulation of broadband. It suggests that (1) to maximize human welfare, information networks ought be as neutral as possible between various uses or applications, and (2) if necessary, government ought to intervene to promote or preserve the neutrality of the network. Underlying the theory of the benefits of network neutrality is a belief that a neutral network promotes Schumpterian, or evolutionary innovation of information technology.
Sounds good eh? Well not everyone likes the sound of it.
BellSouth has talked about plans for a while to charge service providers extra for premium network usage. For example, Yahoo could pay BellSouth to make Yahoo Mail load up faster than Google Mail, or Microsoft could pay BellSouth to make MSN Search give results faster than Google Search - you get the idea.
Many in the IT world feel this new plan is direct more toward VoIP but who knows for sure and how really want to wait and find out. Opponents of this new plan as a power grab attempt by the major telephone companies, since most of them passed up the idea of the internet in the beginning.
Right now there is a piece of legislation at the U.S house of Representatives that connects directly with this "network neutrality" issue. Google believe this new legislation needs to be modified to protect the idea of neutrality for the internet.
Jeff Pulver, the man behind the company that is now called Vonage, even called for a Google and others to start a BellSouth Boycott yesterday.
Blogs and media sources have exploded in a new round of pay-for-QOS stories.
Silicon Valley.com Blog
Techdirt.com
MSNBC.com
CNNMoney.com
In response to this round of media noise, three consumer groups repeated today calls for a U.S law to prevent broadband providers from blocking or slowing customer access to some internet content by saying the public wants government protection.
"If we're not careful, we'll miss signs that there are threats to openness that makes the Internet so great," said Michael J. Copps, a Democrat on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), speaking at the consumer groups' press conference. "The more concentrated that our [broadband] providers become, the more they have the ability, and possibly even the incentive, to act as Internet gatekeepers.
Google responded today with support for the neutrality principles in the NetworkingPipeline Blog.
Google's Barry Schnitt told Paul in an email: "Google is not discussing sharing of the costs of broadband networks with any carrier. We believe consumers are already paying to support broadband access to the Internet through subscription fees and, as a result, consumers should have the freedom to use this connection without limitations."
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