On Network Neutrality
Apr. 24th, 2008 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackofallgeeksI can't remember who I was talking to, my brother maybe, but recently I was
talking to someone about network neutrality -- the idea that Internet
service providers ouught to be dumb pipes through which information flows
without being altered or examined. The main concern is that if service
providers became heavy-handed then they could censor the internet, or
something.
This is, essentially, an absurd idea. The fact of the matter, as I told
this faceless someone, is that China can't censor the Internet, even
with the full force of a governmental regime and World Power (tm). They've
tried, with the so-called Great Firewall of China, but they're
generally failing. Many nations have tried to censor information on the
internet, but have so far been unable to even block YouTube.
TechDirt has an Article up right
now discussing a recent claim by a Network Neutrality activist that service
providers have the ability to change the architecture of the internet. Put
simply, they don't. The activise, Lessig, makes an analogy of a power grid
which determined price and even basic service based on what appliance you
plug in: $X for a Sony TV, $Y for a Hitachi, and no power at all if you try
to use an RCA TV, for example. TechDirt notes that this is an interesting
example because of the insane amount of cost and effort that would
need to be expended by a power company to change the architecture of the
power grid. And this is exactly the case with Internet service
providers. That's SO MUCH collusion required, and much of the effort rests
on the shoulders of people who have no interest in promoting such a scheme.
The Internet is simply too big; those in the know can attest to how
hard it is switching from IPv4 to IPv6, and that's something generally
everyone wants!
So, yeah, I think network neutrality is important, but fears of some great
censorship on the Internet...? I don't buy it. It's not impossible,
not illogical, but it's so incredibly difficult and unlikely that I
don't think we'll ever *really* have to worry about such a cataclysm. We
should slap ISPs when they try to examine or alter or 'enhance' the data
we're sending through their pipes, but I don't think we have much to fear
beyond a little bit of annoyance.
talking to someone about network neutrality -- the idea that Internet
service providers ouught to be dumb pipes through which information flows
without being altered or examined. The main concern is that if service
providers became heavy-handed then they could censor the internet, or
something.
This is, essentially, an absurd idea. The fact of the matter, as I told
this faceless someone, is that China can't censor the Internet, even
with the full force of a governmental regime and World Power (tm). They've
tried, with the so-called Great Firewall of China, but they're
generally failing. Many nations have tried to censor information on the
internet, but have so far been unable to even block YouTube.
TechDirt has an Article up right
now discussing a recent claim by a Network Neutrality activist that service
providers have the ability to change the architecture of the internet. Put
simply, they don't. The activise, Lessig, makes an analogy of a power grid
which determined price and even basic service based on what appliance you
plug in: $X for a Sony TV, $Y for a Hitachi, and no power at all if you try
to use an RCA TV, for example. TechDirt notes that this is an interesting
example because of the insane amount of cost and effort that would
need to be expended by a power company to change the architecture of the
power grid. And this is exactly the case with Internet service
providers. That's SO MUCH collusion required, and much of the effort rests
on the shoulders of people who have no interest in promoting such a scheme.
The Internet is simply too big; those in the know can attest to how
hard it is switching from IPv4 to IPv6, and that's something generally
everyone wants!
So, yeah, I think network neutrality is important, but fears of some great
censorship on the Internet...? I don't buy it. It's not impossible,
not illogical, but it's so incredibly difficult and unlikely that I
don't think we'll ever *really* have to worry about such a cataclysm. We
should slap ISPs when they try to examine or alter or 'enhance' the data
we're sending through their pipes, but I don't think we have much to fear
beyond a little bit of annoyance.
