Net Neutrality

There’s some talk going around the Internet (or more specifically, the Blogosphere) these days about “Net Neutrality,” so I thought I’d take a moment to touch upon the subject.

First off, it is important to understand that the Internet is just a collection of various networks, all hooked together with the same protocol (TCP/IP, to be specific). There are a LOT of networks – hundreds of thousands – and some of the biggest ones are owned by big communications companies (i.e. AT&T, Verizon, etc.). In fact, some of the biggest parts of the Internet (the “backbone,” which carries a majority of Internet traffic) are owned by single companies.

Now, most people are blissfully unaware of these facts, because the Internet is connected in an “open” manner – that is, no single network section discriminates against traffic moving through the network. It’s a lot like the a highway system – you might go between states on your journey, but when you get to the border, nothing special happens – you just keep going. Ditto with the Internet – you go to a web site, and the information comes from the site to your computer, probably traveling across several different networks along the way – but you don’t notice it, because nothing happens when you traverse network boundaries. That’s what “open” means.

Lately, however, some big communications companies have suggested that they’d like to be able to charge people for traveling across their network – or even deny certain people (or data) access to their network. To continue with my highway analogy, this would be like getting to a state border on the highway and having to go through a checkpoint. Some people might have “Fast Lane”-like tags that let them go right through, while others might be turned away at the border for various and sundry reasons (like not being a “citizen” – i.e. customer – of the state – i.e. communications company).

Think about that for a moment. Imagine trying to drive to visit someone a few states away, but being unable to do so, because one of the states you need to cross doesn’t let non-citizens (non-customers) onto its roads. You end up having to take a hugely round-about way to get to your destination – maybe you even have to go by ship around the world, just to get to another state!

This is the essence of the argument of Net Neutrality. Communications companies say they want to be able to charge people for access to their networks – even though those networks are part of the so-called “public” Internet.

Consider this: imagine that Net Neutrality was lost, and we had to pay for accessing different portions of the Internet. Let’s say that I’m a Verizon customer. I want to go to Google and look something up. However, let’s say that Google has bought it’s Internet access through AT&T. Since I’m not an AT&T customer, I don’t get access (or I might get a lower-quality access that’s much slower).

The implications of this are terrifying. As someone who practically lives on the Internet, I can’t think of a worse thing to happen than this sort of scheme to be approved by Congress (which, by the way, is already considering such a measure).

The impact of this isn’t just limited to individual consumers, though. Businesses – especially smaller businesses, which are increasingly dependant on the Internet for connectivity with suppliers, merchants, customers, banks, etc. – would be effectively “taxed” out of existance by such a scheme.

Some people try to defend the communication companies’ positions by saying that it’s “opening up the Internet to competition” or that it’s a “free market” thing that can only be good for consumers, or that it’s “unfair” to the communications companies – who, to their credit, have invested billions in the infrastructure of the Internet. What these people fail to realize is that the Internet succeeds because it is open, just like public roads and the US Highway System.

We’ve seen openess succeed in other industries. You used to be charged extra for calling someone’s cell phone if they were on a different network – now there are cell companies that let you call anyone on any other network for free! Ditto with text messages and (more recently) picture messaging. That’s openess. That’s what makes the Internet so powerful.

Getting rid of the Neutrality of the Internet is a bad idea. It won’t help anyone, and it’s just plain stupid.

If you want to see how you can help stop this bad idea before it gets out of hand in Congress (because you know it will – that’s what Congress is good at), visit http://www.savetheinternet.com.