Net neutrality: An American problem?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: October 1, 2008 4:21:29 PM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Net neutrality: An American problem?

[Note:  This item comes from friend Randy Burge.  DLH]

From: Randy Burge <burge () proactive to>
Date: October 1, 2008 1:14:39 PM PDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Subject: Net neutrality: An American problem?

Net neutrality: An American problem?

September 28, 2008 11:42 AM PDT

Posted by ZDNet Australia

<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10053045-94.html>

This story was written by Brett Winterford and Julian Hill.

The leaders of three of Australia's largest ISP's have declared the Net
neutrality debate as solely a U.S. problem--and further, that the nation
that pioneered the Internet might want to study the Australian market  
for
clues as to how to solve the dilemma.

Net neutrality is a term coined by Internet users who oppose the  
increasing
tendency among network owners (telecommunications companies) to tier or
prioritize certain content on the network.

The debate was sparked after several American and British service  
providers
offered to charge a premium to prioritize traffic connecting with some  
sites
over others. These service providers claim the Internet is "running  
out of
capacity" due to excessive use of rich content like video and file- 
sharing
traffic. The only model with which capacity can be expanded, they  
argue, is
to charge large media companies to prioritize traffic to and from their
sites.

But Simon Hackett, the managing director of Adelaide-based ISP  
Internode,
argues that it is ridiculous to suggest bandwidth is "running out."

"I don't subscribe to the view that network capacity is finite at all...
Optical fiber basically doesn't run out of capacity, it's just a  
question of
how fast you blink the bits at each end," he said in a recent  
interview with
ZDNet.com.au.

"The (Net neutrality) problem isn't about running out of capacity.  
It's a
business model that's about to explode due to stress. The problem, in my
opinion, is the U.S. business model," said Hackett.

"The U.S. have got a problem," weighed in Justin Milne, group managing
director for Telstra Media and former chief of Australia's largest ISP,
BigPond. "Their problem is that unlike Australia, they (offer) truly
unlimited plans." The problem with an unlimited-access plan, explains
Hackett, is that it "devalues what a megabyte is worth." American  
customers
have never been able to put much of a dollar value on traffic, as
historically, U.S. ISPs have "had it very easy" in terms of bandwidth  
costs.
The United States invented the Internet and developed the first  
content for
it, and the rest of the world essentially subsidized the U.S. to  
connect to
that content.

<snip>
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