Mike, Thanks for the reference to the interview of Ben Scott from Save the Internet on C-SPAN. He gave an excellent description of the issues. I've read a lot about network neutrality, and he put things in perspective (clearing up a few questions I had). I have one minor concern: I think the analogy that he gave was exaggerated. The following in not a word-for-word quote, but he said roughly:
"Without net neutrality, the risk is best described by an analogy from Craig Newmark (of Craig's list). Imagine if the telephone network was not neutral, and they had a deal with Dominos, but not with Pizza Hut. You call Pizza Hut, and the phone company interrupts the call and states, 'We're sorry. Dominos is our preferred pizza provider. If you'd still like to order a pizza from Pizza Hut, click "5" and wait three minutes while all the customers who are ordering from Dominos get their guaranteed service delivery.' ... If you go to a Web site that is not preferred (not in the super tier), it will be slow; it will be delayed; and may not load at all." I doubt that the FCC would allow a network provider to simply NOT load a site, but a network owner could certainly delay the loading of a Web page. The discrimination could blatant, e.g., a pop-up suggesting an alternate/preferred Web site. It could be overt (but not as blatant), e.g., a warning stating that the site you requested does not have premium service and that delayed page loading is to be expected. Or, the discrimination could be hidden: simply a delay in loading the Web page without any notice or warning. --TD ----- Original Message ---- From: mike <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 3:36:09 PM Subject: Re: [CGUYS] Network Neutrality Cmnts to FCC: Last day is 7/16 http://download.rbn.com/cspan/cspan/download/com_feed.xml That's the feed for CSPAN's communicator series. They did an interview with Ben Scott from Save the Internet Coalition. If you have a few minutes might give it a listen. He gives a fairly short and concise definition as well as a good analogy of what the telcos want and the effect on general users. Mike ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
