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292 Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure

INTERACTIVE SESSION: ORGANIZATIONS

THE BATTLE OVER NET NEUTRALITY

What kind of Internet user are you? Do you ferentiated pricing is “the fairest way” to finance nec-
primarily use the Net to do a little e-mail and look essary investments in their network infrastructures.
up phone numbers? Or are you online all day, Internet service providers point to the upsurge in
watching YouTube videos, downloading music files, piracy of copyrighted materials over the Internet.
or playing online games? If you have a smartphone, Comcast, the second largest U.S. Internet service pro-
do you use it to make calls and check the Web every vider, reported that illegal file sharing of copyrighted
so often, or do you stream TV shows and movies material was consuming 50 percent of its network
on a regular basis? If you’re a power Internet or capacity. In 2008, the company slowed down trans-
smartphone user, you are consuming a great deal of mission of BitTorrent files used extensively for piracy
bandwidth, and hundreds of millions of people like and illegal sharing of copyrighted materials, includ-
you might start to slow the Internet down. YouTube ing video. The Federal Communications Commission
consumed as much bandwidth in 2007 as the entire (FCC) ruled that Comcast had to stop slowing peer-
Internet did in 2000, and AT&T’s mobile network to-peer traffic in the name of network management.
will carry more data in the first two months of 2015 Comcast then filed a lawsuit challenging the FCC’s
than in all of 2010. authority to enforce network neutrality. In April 2010,
If user demand for the Internet overwhelms a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Comcast that
network capacity, the Internet might not come to a the FCC did not have the authority to regulate how an
screeching halt, but users would be faced with very Internet provider manages its network. This was a con-
sluggish download speeds and slow performance siderable blow to net neutrality. In late 2010, Comcast
of Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and other data-heavy reportedly began charging Level 3 Communications,
services. Heavy use of iPhones in urban areas such which helps stream Netflix’s movies, an additional fee
as New York and San Francisco has already degraded for continued normal service. Level 3 asked the FCC to
service on the AT&T wireless network. AT&T reports investigate the action.
that 3 percent of its subscriber base accounts for 40 Groups favoring net neutrality are pushing Congress
percent of its data traffic. to find ways to regulate the industry to prevent net-
Some analysts believe that as digital traffic on work providers from adopting Comcast-like prac-
the Internet grows, even at a rate of 50 percent per tices. The strange alliance of net neutrality advocates
year, the technology for handling all this traffic is includes MoveOn.org, the Christian Coalition, the
advancing at an equally rapid pace. But regardless American Library Association, every major consumer
of what happens with Internet infrastructure, costs group, and a host of bloggers and small businesses, as
for Internet providers will continue to increase, and well as streaming-video services like Netflix.
prominent media companies are searching for new Net neutrality advocates argue that the risk
revenue streams to meet those costs. One solution is of censorship increases when network opera-
to make Internet users pay for the amount of band- tors can selectively block or slow access to certain
width they use. But metering Internet use is not content such as Netflix video streams or access
universally accepted, because of an ongoing debate to competing low-cost services such as Skype.
about network neutrality. Proponents of net neutrality also argue that a neutral
Network neutrality is the idea that Internet Internet encourages everyone to innovate without
service providers must allow customers equal access permission from the phone and cable companies
to content and applications, regardless of the source or other authorities, and this level playing field has
or nature of the content. Presently, the Internet is spawned countless new businesses. Allowing unre-
indeed neutral: all Internet traffic is treated equally stricted information flow becomes essential to free
on a first-come, first-served basis by Internet back- markets and democracy as commerce and society
bone owners. However, this arrangement prevents increasingly move online.
telecommunications and cable companies from Network owners believe regulation to enforce
charging differentiated prices based on the amount net neutrality will impede U.S. competitiveness by
of bandwidth consumed by content being delivered stifling innovation, discouraging capital expendi-
over the Internet. These companies believe that dif- tures for new networks, and curbing their networks’

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