NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] New "Open Networking Foundation" may bring good -- and evil
New "Open Networking Foundation" may bring good -- and evil
http://j.mp/dUdXhE (New York Times)
"The intelligence in the original Internet was meant to reside largely
at the end points of the network - the computers - while the
specialized routing computers were relatively dumb post offices of
various size, mainly confined to reading addresses and transferring
packets of data to adjacent systems. But these days, when cloud
computing means a lot of the information is stored and processed on
computers out on the network, there is growing need for more
intelligent control systems to orchestrate the behavior of thousands
of routing machines. It will make it possible, for example, for
managers of large networks to program their network to prioritize
certain types of data, perhaps to ensure quality of service or to add
security to certain portions of a network."
- - -
I must admit that I'm disappointed that John Markoff of the Times
generated what seems to be a "puff piece" on this topic, that failed
to even mention the potential dark side of such an effort.
While the stated possible positives of such technology are real
enough, the same mechanisms could be used to impose exactly the sorts
of walled gardens, service degradations, and "pay to play" limits that
are at the heart of Net Neutrality concerns, as dominant ISPs in
particular would be tempted to leverage this technology to further
restrict user applications to the benefit of their own profit centers.
With strong, enforceable Net Neutrality regulations -- hard to
visualize coming to pass in the current political environment -- such
technology might be manageable in a fair and balanced way. Without
such a regulatory framework, the broad deployment of such technology
could be a disaster for ordinary Internet users.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz
Quora: http://www.quora.com/Lauren-Weinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com