View Single Post
Old 2009-10-05, 20:17   Link #15
SeijiSensei
AS Oji-kun
 
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Age: 74
Quote:
Originally Posted by chikorita157 View Post
metered internet would go against net neutrality
Again, I have to object. Net neutrality concerns whether ISPs can manage traffic based on the source or destination of the IP packets, the protocols employed, or, more ominously, the content that IP packets contain. These concerns have nothing to do with speed or pricing. A high-priced, high-speed service that nevertheless slows down video packets specifically from Netflix is not neutral, but neither is a low-priced, low-speed service that does the same.

Net neutrality is just a fancy name for what we used to call "common carriage," the policy that carriers cannot discriminate among the items they transport based on irrelevant features. Railroads had to charge the same amount to carry a pound of gold as they did a pound of lead. FedEx charges the same price to deliver a box of a given weight regardless of what the box contains.

I favor pricing service by speed and usage; I'm unalterably opposed to allowing the carriers to discriminate among the packets they carry.

I've written more extensively on net neutrality over here.
SeijiSensei is offline   Reply With Quote