Tim Berners-Lee (who basically invented the Web): Neutrality of the Net. To actually design legislation which allows creative interconnections between different service providers, but ensures neutrality of the Net as a whole may be a difficult task. It is a very important one. The US should do it now, and, if it turns out to be the only way, be as draconian as to require financial isolation between IP providers and businesses in other layers.
The Internet is increasingly becoming the dominant medium binding us. The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true.
We cannot afford to allow the new robber barons — the cable and phone giants that are bidding to own the broadband marketplace and decide which bits flow in what order and at what speed — to capture that kind of control.
Read Berners-Lee’s posting, and then read the comments. Lots of great discussion.
on Jan 20th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Dan,
I get the impression that Net Neutrality is much more complex than it is presented: pretty much all players seem to have a steak (may just be a theoretical one) in the issue: each side seems to be pushing their own agenda without being concerned with presenting a balanced view.
Delia