
If I pay to connect to the Net with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or greater quality of service, then we can communicate at that level.Implementing it is difficult, whether technically (stifling, throttling, blocking, proxying, etc.), legally (spam, phishing, other abuse, fraud, theft, etc.). And politically perhaps even harder. Witness the network neutrality legislation proposed by Senators Dorgan and Snowe:— When I invented the Web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Tim Berners-Lee
`SEC. 12. INTERNET NEUTRALITY .OK, that's basically TBL's definition. But what about devices (think Carterfone)?`(a) Duty of Broadband Service Providers- With respect to any broadband service offered to the public, each broadband service provider shall--
`(1) not block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use a broadband service to access, use, send, post, receive, or offer any lawful content, application, or service made available via the Internet;'
— Internet Freedom Preservation Act (Introduced in Senate), S 215 IS, 110th CONGRESS, 1st Session, S. 215, To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure net neutrality . Mr. DORGAN (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. KERRY, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. OBAMA, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, January 9, 2007
`(2) not prevent or obstruct a user from attaching or using any device to the network of such broadband service provider, only if such device does not physically damage or substantially degrade the use of such network by other subscribers;And how does the user know?
`(3) provide and make available to each user information about such user's access to the Internet, and the speed, nature, and limitations of such user's broadband service;And what about security, consumer protection, etc.? That's in there, too. I highly recommend reading it. Two presidential candidates (Obama and Clinton) are co-sponsors, so there's some chance it will be passed in 2009 if not before.
-jsq
PS: S. 215 link fixed per Robb Topolski comment. 7:14AM 13 Nov 2007
The link to S115 is dead. Here is a working URL:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.215.IS:
Posted by: Robb Topolski | November 12, 2007 at 11:31 PM
Good point. URL fixed now.
Posted by: jsqrisk | November 13, 2007 at 07:39 AM