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This article from
Web App.titude
Sep/Oct 2006

Who nets the most from Net Neutrality?

Additional Information

Wikipedia - Net neutrality definiition
The Register - Net neutrality - the great debacle - August 2006
Silicon.com - Net neutrality vote splits US Senate - June 2006
IT Week - Moves in the US to let telcos charge extra for high-speed web links may slow down some sites - May 2006

Article

Who gains the most from the billions invested in broadband infrastructure by the telecom companies - the telecom companies or the eCommerce sites that take advantage of faster, more efficient webpage delivery? In the UK alone eCommerce websites raked in £6.7 billion in 2005.

Now, the telecom companies would like a greater share of the action.They'd like to charge depending on content type for example video, to help pay for the faster delivery to end-users. But this cuts across one of the key tenets of the Internet - the belief that all things on the Internet should be equal - the widelysupported concept of Network Neutrality.

Who gains the most from Net Neutrality?
From a commercial perspective, without net neutrality, broadband providers would be able to determine a packet's service level by checking its content, distinguishing between the types of data. Telecom companies argue that they should be allowed to charge extra for higher priority access to deliver services that make money. As they have paid for the infrastructure, not the website owners, then eCommerce companies should not be able to profit from that infrastructure for free.

What's happening in the US?
Net neutrality is currently a hot topic in the US. Big Internet players such as Google,Amazon.com, eBay, Microsoft and Yahoo have been lobbying US politicians to make net neutrality mandatory. Congress is currently considering arguments for and against the concept. The first major net neutrality bill was approved in May 2006 by the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives.The "Internet Freedom and Non Discrimination Act of 2006” is a bill that requires broadband providers to adopt strict net neutrality rules, ensuring competitive and non-discriminatory Internet access. It has yet to go through a floor vote in the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile a competing bill, the 'Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act ' (COPE) is also being processed.An amendment to this bill - 'The Net Neutrality Act 2006' similar in nature to the 'Internet Freedom and Non Discrimination Act of 2006' - was rejected in June by the House of Representatives. The Senate Commerce Committee, a US Senate panel, also narrowly rejected the Net Neutrality amendment to COPE. So as it stands the COPE Act prevents net neutrality protections from being written into law. It will now progress to the Senate where if approved and signed by the US President, it will become law.

Most recently The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee passed the 'Communications, Consumer's Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006', a broader telecommunications reform bill.The bill currently includes some provisions for net neutrality but does not prevent network operators from establishing paid tiers of service.

What's happening in Europe?
The European Commissions "Content Online" consultation will incorporate net neutrality along with DRM, privacy online and competitiveness. Input to this consultation will help form a directive due to be adopted at the end of the year. In the UK, recent local loop unbundling and the regulation of broadband products, aimed at competition and consumer choice, will most likely strongly support net neutrality. Ofcom has the power to punish network operators that attempt to abuse a strong market position. But while the UK is unlikely to follow developments in the US, there could be serious implications for UK companies selling to the US.