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Net neutralityWhy it matters to you

Matthew “Buzzy” NielsenAssistant Director, North Bend Public Library

01/07/2011

What is net neutrality?

Sources, from top then left: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos (Wikimedia Commons), bisonblog, dullhunk, and John McNab (Flickr)

An analogy: electricity

All uses are prioritized equally.

Applied to the Internet

Applied to the Internet

What is net neutrality?

All content is created equal.

What is net neutrality?

All platforms are created equal.

E-readers Computers Mobile phones

Image sources: Per Ola Wiberg

What is net neutrality?

All users are created equal.

Home usersCompanies

Business users

The state of regulation

It's here: FCC adopts net neutrality (lite)

~ ars technica, December 21, 2010 ~

“”

The state of regulation

Wired networks

● No content-blocking

● “Reasonable” network management

● Some charging for additional services allowed.

Mobile networks

● Status quo maintained

● Internet Service Providers can discriminate (or not)

Issue #1Will there be content discrimination

and/or “network management?

Content discrimination

Content discrimination:Making it easier and/or faster to access certain sources or types of information over others.

What's considered a neutralway to deal with content?

Pay for better access?

Priorities: The Comcast NBC merger

Priorities: The Comcast NBC merger

It's not just academic:Comcast + bittorrent

In 2008, Comcast was detected slowing traffic for content delivered over BitTorrent.

Double-dipping

$$

$

Network management

Network Management:Practices for companies running networks that allow them to control types of traffic to improve overall network performance.

What's considered a legitimatenetwork management practice?

Issue #2Will net neutrality promote or stifle

innovation and investment?

Two different views

Would allowing discriminatory pricing models encourage for-profit companies to invest more in infrastructure?

Would providing for neutrality encourage competition among

different content providers?

Source: OECD, June 2010

US broadband = pathetic

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Other Fibre/LAN CableDSLOECD average

OECD Fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by technology

OECD average

Source: OECD, October 2009

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Average advertised broadband download speed, kbit/s*Median

Average advertised broadband download speed, by country, kbit/s, October 2009

Issue #3What about the mobile Internet?

Source: OECD, June 2010

Mobile data: The future of the Web

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OECD wireless broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by technology

Dedicated mobile data subscriptions Standard mobile broadband subscriptions Terrestrial fixed wireless Satellite

Countries with partial data

Investment is happening

HTC EVOSamsung GALAXY Tab

But will we be nickel & dimed?

$RSS

$Music

$Social

networking

$News

$Shopping

$Games

Issue #4Should the government be

involved in regulating the Internet at all?

Regulation and innovation

Television

Radio

Film

Print

Internet

Highly regulated

Highly regulated

Self-regulated

Lightly-regulated

Lightly-regulated

Is Internet sufficiently competitive?

Your broadband choices in Coos County. If you're

fortunate enough to have them.

The gist:How content is treated on the Web will affectwhat services are available in the future, how

they're accessed, and the quality of thenetwork on which they're delivered,

Questions?

This presentation was made using open source software.

View this presentation on slideshare:http://www.slideshare.net/nbpl/net-neutrality-6478880

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