Deep Net Neutrality
Via Susan (who is unlinkable), a thoughtful essay on the net neutrality debate: Net Neutrality is a Deep Issue. The writer identifies what is probably the key battleground: video delivery. The question isn’t whether Google is going to take five seconds to return search results; it’s how multimedia content will be handled.
Nathan Jan 28
I first learned about this issue through a New Yorker missive in the Talk of the Town section a month or so ago. There, the writer made a decidedly pro-“Net neutrality” comaprison, suggesting that the situation was roughly analogous to a case where phone companies would charge businesses a scale on the basis of which they would either allow their phones to have clear connection, spotty connection, or very little connection at all. It sounds to me like the present argument is a bit more subtle than that, because at least in principle all phone communications are identical, i.e., in the above example we are talking about a uniform kind of communication–voice over wire. But when you bring in the issue of broadband, fiber-optics and large multimedia content, then ISP’s may have a legitimate argument for charging scaled fees for different “kinds” of service (those surpassing certain determined bandwith limits).
Nathan Jan 28
BTW, just noticed that you’ve done away with your Turring test. Any reasons?
Adam Rosi-Kessel Jan 28
Turing test is still there. It’s just hidden from humans. You can see it in the HTML source code. It catches 98% of my comment spam.