Friday, August 20, 2010

Google and "Net Neutrality"

Wired magazine has a summary of the past and present reversals of Google and wirless internet access that can severely impact you. Read it here.

Another organization gives a summary of the issue here:

"As many others have noted, the exclusion of wireless from all but the transparency requirements is a dreadful idea. Neutrality should be the rule for all services, and a distinction between wired and wireless not only defies reason, it also abandons the portion of the Internet that is currently most lacking in openness and neutrality. Users are increasingly demanding the ability to do many, if not all, of the same things in a wireless environment as they do in a wired one. Regardless of what regulation may look like or whether there is any regulation at all, there shouldn’t be a distinction between the neutrality available on wired services and that available on wireless services."

Lastly, a more objective summary of this proposal here:

"So that's the plan -- it's actually more or less the status quo in many ways, if you think about it. But the thing about the status quo is that it's not enshrined as formal policy -- adopting this plan would officially mean that wireless networks aren't subject to net neutrality, and that the FCC would have very little power to change that over time. That's a huge compromise, and it's obviously not one the FCC's taking quietly: in a statement today, an agency commissioner said that the proposal had "many problems," and that it was time to "reassert FCC authority over broadband telecommunications, to guarantee an open Internet now and forever." Sounds to us like the real fight's just about to get started -- and keep in mind, we haven't heard anything substantive from other major players like Comcast, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile yet. Buckle up -- it's gonna get nerdy."

Summary of "net neutrality" here.

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