Net Neutrality Links
I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.
Lies, cable TV, and Patrick Hynes
What’s all this about? Well, if you’ve been reading the business sections of the papers over the past year or so, you’ve probably seen a few articles about this stuff. From what I understand, the debates involve delivery of television signals and other high-bandwidth content (i.e., Internet service) to people’s homes. Cable TV has been the dominant player for the last 20 years, thanks to technological issues and municipal-level monopolies, but ISPs and telephone companies are positioning themselves for an era where the Internet is used to deliver paid television programming.
A related issue is how Internet traffic will be treated in the future. Currently the Internet isn’t owned by anyone, but companies do own parts of it. Any network connection that’s part of the Internet treats all traffic – whether email, Google searches, news, music, or video – equally, or relatively equally. From what Borderline has been able to fathom, some companies which own “backbone” connections (kind of like the superhighways of the Internet) as well as potential distributors of high-bandwidth programming — want to be able to segregate traffic by type and price, so things like blogs or free video posted on local websites would be on the slow road with lots of traffic lights, while paid video channels would be on the faster toll road. “Net Neutrality” refers to the efforts to keep the Internet the way it is now, i.e., all traffic is treated in the same way, rather than paid programming getting higher priority.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE
That’s one of the best simply worded explanations of the issue I’ve seen.
Thanks Liz.
Thanks for noticing, Big Roy,
It took me a long time to find it. Of course, I had to figure out what it was before I could recognize what a good definition looked like. 🙂
I think that when the internet slows down, it will quit being as useful. The great thing about the Internet now, is that you can find the information you’re seeking, and quickly.
I’m already paying high fees for my connection, as I have a cable connection at home, and cable, DSL, and T1 at the office of the business I own.
My open question is how much more will I have to cough up to run my blog, or my commerical sights for that matter???
I run a sight, “www.onlinepoetry.net”, and have no ads, no nothing, just so people will have a nice place to post their poetry that the surrounding page contents will not detract from their words on the screen.
If what they are suggesting actually transpires, I obviously couldn’t provide it any longer, thereby removing a nice attempt to provide solace in an otherwise crowded web space.
Hi Steve,
That’s the problem, exactly as you described it. You’ve only left out the lack of choice — mono- duopoly. The cablecoms want to turn the Internet into cable television. It’s the model they know. The telcos want it to be long distance.
There is no model for the World Wide Web. The links need to stay protected.