The Pros And Cons Of Internet Neutrality

2013 Words9 Pages

Given the importance of the internet in today’s society, a policy governing its use cannot go undiscussed. The idea of internet neutrality, or net neutrality, has spread over the past few years. Meanwhile, opinions for and against have been argued, but most people still do not understand how this concept could have lasting effects as far reaching as the international realm. As these concepts are debated in the near-term, this topic will grow in importance and will relate even more to the International Political Economy (IPE). In short, the effects of ignored net neutrality will have both domestic and global implications which are liable to promote monopolization of this unique resource. Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the …show more content…

ISPs would be able to legally apply quality of service mechanics which would bottleneck services unless they chose to pay the ISP for a “fast lane” to the consumer. Instead of a single pipe with a single speed, the pipe would have divisions that the provider could use to ignore sections of a user’s pipe to prioritize preferred data. This idea stems from the Comcast / Netflix decision in February 2014 to create a direct link between the two (at an undisclosed price) after Comcast had been allegedly throttling Netflix traffic due to the assessed volume of Netflix traffic traversing Comcast’s infrastructure. Due to the lack of restrictions on ISPs, the expectation, and fear, is that providers will use this tactic to create artificial “speed bumps” in data delivery to create more revenue and degrade the overall experience of the internet. Equally troublesome is the ISP’s capability to limit the speed of your data delivery (the “private good” you are leasing from them) based on the amount of roads they must transit outside of their network (Nye & Welch, 2013, p. 194). This transfer of power from the content provider to the delivery system creates a conflict which has not yet been dealt with, and has the promise to echo through the rest of the internet …show more content…

To do that, I believe the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act — while at the same time forbearing from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services. This is a basic acknowledgment of the services ISPs provide to American homes and businesses, and the straightforward obligations necessary to ensure the network works for everyone — not just one or two companies (Obama,