Question:
So what exactly is Net Neutrality and why is it bad/good?
2010-12-10 10:01:41 UTC
From what I can gather it's a law requiring all service providers to give equal bandwidth to all websites, rather than favor certain sites over others.
Is there more to it than that?
I'm hearing a lot of chatter about censorship and such and I want to know your take on this, and links if possible.
Eleven answers:
2010-12-10 10:03:42 UTC
Net neutrality is against censorship. Otherwise, providers might censor information, not on the basis of political sensitivity, but block access to sites for commercial/competitive reasons.



"Insanity" - WHERE does it say that the government takes control -- WHERE?







Network neutrality (also net neutrality, Internet neutrality) is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and the modes of communication.[1][2][3]



The principle states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access.



Though the term did not enter popular use until several years later, since the early 2000s advocates of net neutrality and associated rules have raised concerns about the ability of broadband providers to use their last mile infrastructure to block Internet applications and content (e.g., websites, services, protocols), even blocking out competitors. In the US particularly, but elsewhere as well, the possibility of regulations designed to mandate the neutrality of the Internet has been subject to fierce debate.



Neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services. Many believe net neutrality to be primarily important as a preservation of current freedoms.[4] Vinton Cerf, considered a "father of the Internet" and co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the Web, and many others have spoken out in favor of network neutrality.[citation needed]



Opponents of net neutrality characterize its regulations as "a solution in search of a problem", arguing that broadband service providers have no plans to block content or degrade network performance.[5] In spite of this claim, certain Internet service providers have intentionally slowed peer-to-peer (P2P) communications.[6] Still other companies have acted in contrast to these assertions of hands-off behavior and have begun to use deep packet inspection to discriminate against P2P, FTP and online games, instituting a cell-phone style billing system of overages, free-to-telecom "value added" services, and bundling.[7] Critics of net neutrality also argue that data discrimination of some kinds, particularly to guarantee quality of service, is not problematic, but is actually highly desirable. Bob Kahn, the other co-inventor of the Internet Protocol, has called the term net neutrality a "slogan" and states that he opposes establishing it, but he admits that he is against the fragmentation of the net whenever this becomes excluding to other participants.[8]
Just Jess
2010-12-10 11:46:36 UTC
There aren't any laws yet. There are only FCC policies that are being enforced, and companies choosing to comply with them or not.



The reason you're getting conflicting responses as to whether it constitutes censorship, is because there are some very good arguments for net neutrality being a way to protect consumers from censorship, and some very good arguments for net neutrality itself being a form of censorship.



Network Neutrality is a principle. It says that the people providing you internet shouldn't have a say in what you do with it (if you're committing crimes, that's a different issue). The idea is that a content provider can't pay money to a service provider to get more bandwidth dedicated to their content.



The censorship issue from the user's end is that a content provider shouldn't be looking at where you are getting content from to begin with (possibly unless there are law enforcement issues; again, this is a separate issue).



To put it simply: the post office shouldn't open and read your mail.



There are also a lot of technologies that allow people to communicate things in secret to other people. Things like bank account passwords, business info for people that work over the internet, personally identifying information, and the rest. Lack of net neutrality would mean that all these technologies would get a lower bandwidth. This means that if you have a job securely working on a remote computer, it may become literally impossible for you to do your job without net neutrality.



The other issue is that service providers could filter out information that isn't friendly to them. For example, Google could make it take an hour for you to load up a page saying bad things about Google. Politicians could similarly pay service providers to do the same thing.



The censorship issue from the other direction is because any law that affects net neutrality, takes some of the freedom service providers have to decide how to distribute internet to people. This can cause real problems and not just for the business involved. If a service provider was trying to get service to a hard-to-reach rural community, and was legally required to promote every kind of internet content equally, then as new services came out and the money simply wasn't there to keep up with it across the board, those rural communities would lose all their internet service. There are also ethical considerations as to how much of a role the government should play in making decisions for private business. The same considerations exist any time the government has to regulate just about anything. They are never easy, and a solution that makes everyone happy usually is never reached.



The happy medium is what we're already doing. Like news media, laws can only go so far in protecting the public interest. After a certain point, news broadcasters just have to be dedicated to the principle of reporting accurately and honestly, and likewise net neutrality is just something that service providers are going to have to believe in. That's not easy when the rewards for going against net neutrality are many, and especially not when people setting up cable and wireless networks view the networks themselves as an investment.



Recently, 5 attempts at passing Net Neutrality laws were made, and Google and Verison began a tiered internet program, effectively breaking net neutrality. So even though the happy medium has worked in the past, tensions on both sides are reaching a critical point and people are taking matters into their own hands. We are approaching a point where we as a society will have to decide what the lesser of two evils is.
Alessandro Marco
2014-05-08 03:29:31 UTC
I demand real net neutrality, no traffic discrimination, fast and slow lanes, raising prices, data selling, loss of basic connection... if you agree with me follow this link. It's a social platform that can really help us in our mission. it's called SocialBombing.org



the links is here http://goo.gl/HjBWpJ



click and share!
2010-12-10 10:06:30 UTC
What Reality has a Liberal Bias said...lol.



The government taking control of the internet to make sure that your ISP doesn't sensor the internet. Yes, it sounds crazy. Yes, it doesn't make any sense.



Is the internet really that broken?



I have had many different ISP's, including Verizon, AT&T, AOL, Microsoft and now Comcast. I have never, EVER dealt with my evil ISP blocking websites for me because they don't want me to go there for any other reason.



This is nothing more or less than the government taking control of an industry. I find it to be funny how the libs want the government to have control of the internet since we know how easy it was for PFC Manning to walk away with as many files as he wanted from the PENTAGON.



What are they putting in the Kool Aid these days?



I don't believe that this is a censorship issue. I believe that this is a revenue issue. We don't know everything that is in the bill but I would be very surprised if they weren't passing this so they can throw more taxes at websites and ISP's, for operating the new net neutrality bureaucracy that will be passed down to consumers, like everything else.



Aren't we paying too much for everything as it is?
Cody M
2015-11-23 12:17:01 UTC
The Useful Idiots parroting the lie that Net "Neutrality" isn't censorship are the same exact people who told us that Obama wouldn't expand the Patriot Act, wouldn't sign the NDAA, wouldn't start all those illegal wars he started to kill all those civilians, that Obamacare wouldn't raise premiums or kicks anyone off their health plans, that Toomy-Manchkin wasn't about repealing the Second Amendment, that Obama arming Islamist terrorists was a good thing, and so on.



Just something to bear in mind.
Spock (rhp)
2010-12-10 10:11:01 UTC
ah -- you misunderstand. it does not require equal bandwidth. it would require that ISPs allow all content providers equal access to customers irrespective of the bandwidth required.



The effect of this is that huge files being downloaded [think movies on demand] will 'crowd out' google searches for other customers. This happens because the bandwidth from the Internet trunk lines to your neighborhood is in fact limited and when it is being used by many people downloading movies, access times for everyone else will be reduced.



As things currently stand, ISPs are free to bargain with high volume content providers over price and timeliness of downloads. This is where the money can be generated to make the bandwidths larger without raising monthly fees for everyone.



If 'net neutrality' is enabled by Congress [seems unlikely] or the courts [also seems unlikely given the existing ruling that the FCC has no authority over ISPs in this area], then ISPs will be forced to expand their bandwidth by raising monthly fees to everyone, or else they'll have to adopt volume of downloads per month pricing for everyone. [you'd hate volume pricing -- every news site and blog that uses display advertising with images would contribute to the volume used -- meaning you'd have no control over your cost.]
?
2010-12-10 10:09:20 UTC
Yes there is more to it then that, there will be rankings assigned to everything and services will be based n those rankings. It's not only about the net either, they are looking at all communications. Radio, TV, satellite, Cable, everything. If the ranking assigned isn't good enough, your gone. Think about it, Even though some will say that's not going to happen, how will we ever really know if we aren't allowed to find out? Do you trust our government that much to even give them a hint of this sort of power?
?
2016-10-19 04:39:56 UTC
internet Neutrality would be utilized for stable and evil. it fairly is actual that countless internet companies are spying on their clientele and redirecting site visitors. in spite of this something it fairly is meant for stable would be utilized for evil. i'm impartial in this challenge. i'm happy with my internet service reason they do no longer block something. i think of internet neutrality may be stable for people who're abused by skill of their ISP service service. To be honest with you i don't understand adequate approximately it to fairly supply an answer to this. i understand they choose to alter the internet. Now it fairly is frightening. Jesse Ventura has been warning us approximately it.
Return of Bite My Shiny Metal...
2010-12-10 10:10:25 UTC
Actually, it is anti-business. It is essentially telling ISP's that they must implement a one price for all model. That is idiotic and typical of the 0bama administration.
Last True Paladin of Scotland
2010-12-10 10:05:03 UTC
In my opinion digital economy bill was bigger deal, this seems to actually keep net out of being controlled.
mutosheep
2015-02-28 09:21:49 UTC
The same tired lies and talking points from the White House regurgitated by the lib media and all the useful idiots who gladly hand over their freedom to the same people who said we could keep our health care.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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