[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #383: Network (non?)neutrality

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #383: Network (non?)neutrality
April 30th, 2014

FCC sealLast Thursday, the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NPRM) that laid out changes the Commission will be considering in order 
to comply with a January court ruling striking down the FCC's 2010 Open 
Internet Order. You've probably seen the ensuing news stories, many of 
which have a headline something like "FCC Kills Net Neutrality," since 
the NPRM is much more lax about "pay-to-play" deals for Internet traffic 
than the 2010 order. Network neutrality is seen as an issue for 
libraries; the American Library Association, for instance, has concerns 
<http://www.ala.org/advocacy/telecom/netneutrality> that if companies 
can pay for Internet "fast lanes," libraries and other non-commercial 
organizations will end up in the "slow lanes." But this is a very 
complex issue that is easily misunderstood. We've gathered some articles 
below which try to untangle and dispassionately explain the issue 
(despite some of their headlines).

  * Does anyone like the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules?
    <http://recode.net/2014/04/26/does-anyone-like-the-fccs-proposed-net-neutrality-rules/>
    (Re/code /Amy Schatz) "Net neutrality is the concept that Internet
    providers can't block or discriminate among legal Internet traffic.
    [FCC Chairman Tom] Wheeler has proposed
    <http://recode.net/2014/04/24/fcc-tries-explaining-new-net-neutrality-approach-as-techies-freak/>
    allowing Internet providers charge content providers for faster
    connections to subscribers on the public Internet. Federal
    regulators would limit how Internet providers could offer such
    services, but the proposal sparked an outcry from net neutrality
    proponents who believe the change guts the concept of an open Internet."
  * The FCC's "fast lane" rule is awful for the Internet-just ask the
    FCC
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/the-fccs-fast-lane-rule-is-awful-for-the-internet-just-ask-the-fcc/>
    (Ars Technica/Jon Brodkin) "The FCC could have reinstated all the
    rules in that [2010 Open Internet] order by reclassifying ISPs as
    common carriers
    <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/how-the-fcc-screwed-up-its-chance-to-make-isp-blocking-illegal/>,
    but it chose not to. On the plus side, Wheeler says the new rules
    will prevent 'blocking of lawful content' just as the old ones did.
    But payments in exchange for an Internet fast lane will be allowed
    as long as they're 'commercially reasonable,' a much lower standard
    than the one adopted in 2010."
  * How the FCC plans to save the Internet by destroying it: An
    explainer <https://medium.com/p/7805f8049503> (Medium/Ryan Singel)
    "So this is what the FCC is going to do for the entire internet.
    It's going to allow ISPs to charge Netflix and YouTube and whomever
    for fast access. ISPs won't be able to block services, but it
    doesn't have to provide services on a fair basis. The FCC is going
    to try to draw up rules that try to make those agreements
    sort-of-fair, but the strongest those rules can be is holding ISPs
    to standard called 'commercially reasonable'. If it tries to make
    the rules /actually/ fair, then the FCC has overstepped its authority."
  * Net neutrality: A guide to (and history of) a contested idea
    <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/04/the-best-writing-on-net-neutrality/361237/>
    (The Atlantic/Alexis C. Madrigal and Adrienne LaFrance) "If it is so
    obvious, though, that net neutrality is a good thing, then why has
    it remained a contested idea? There are complications. The purity of
    [Lawrence] Lessig's e2e ['end to end'] principle does not remain in
    practice: there is a long tradition of paid commercial arrangements
    between content owners and network operators
    <http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2014/02/media-botching-coverage-netflix-comcast-deal-getting-basics-wrong.html>.
    Content-delivery networks that have already created a 'fast lane'
    for most professional sites, albeit independently of the network
    owners. And as Pennsylvania law professor Chris Yoo has long argued
    (contra Wu), there might be benefits to non-neutral networks
    <http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1485&context=fclj&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3DNetwork%2BNeutrality%2Band%2Bthe%2BEconomics%2Bof%2BCongestion%26btnG%3D%26as_sdt%3D1%252C5%26as_sdtp%3D#search=%22Network%20Neutrality%20Economics%20Congestion%22>."

*/Ironic fact:/*

Many point to the recent deal Netflix made with Comcast for an Internet 
"fast lane" as the beginning of the end of network neutrality, so it is 
ironic that in other news last week 
<http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/netflix-tivo-us-cable-operators/>, 
Netflix will now be provided by some cable companies, instead of relying 
on the Internet for content delivery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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