Internet Neutrality: Ethical Issues in the Internet Environment

Telecommunications Journal of Australia, 2009

This paper describes the present information and communication technology (ICT) market in Japan and introduces some key policy issues currently impacting on the evolving broadband, mobile, Internet and next generation network market, and other issues likely to impact them in future. The paper argues that there is an implicit guiding principle behind several policy initiatives on these issues that might well be described as being based on the conceptual framework of 'Network Neutrality'. The paper further identifies some new policy issues, such as mobile content regulation, interconnection of the NGN and the Internet (IPv6), the introduction of Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD), and depletion of IPv4 address spaces. In order to accommodate these new policy challenges located in the upper layer of the communication architecture, this paper suggests extending the scope of Network Neutrality and examining the 'multi-stakeholder' approach exercised at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

in Hilmi Demir (ed.), Luciano Floridi`s Philosophy of Technology: Critical Reflections (Dordrecht: Springer, 2012).

This paper will serve as an introduction to the concept of net neutrality and as a note to highlight the recent growing interest on this issue. We show that the standard principles organizing the functioning of the Internet, since its invention, are the main roots of neutrality that guarantee competition and innovation. Different perspectives in the net neutrality debate are discussed taking into account the changing uses and the growing traffic. Moreover, the key principles for policy decisions are identified and it is explained how regulation can preserve neutrality while allowing the commercialization of services and applications that are latency sensitive and bandwidth consuming.

SSRN eJournal, 2017

The issue of network neutrality across the globe has been envisaged based mainly on two approaches viz., economic business regulation models and right based models factoring in the rights of privacy and freedom of expression. Internet has become the undisputed vital vehicle for cultural, social and humanitarian functions in a democracy. The high technology routers, vast network infrastructure including optic fibres, high end services like high definition video on demand (VoD), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has afforded the network service providers a greater control in providing graded (read differential) network accessibility to customers in the name of providing high quality of service (QoS) as per their demands. This has initiated the vicious cycle of network service providers controlling the content and its accessibility by having differential pricing for different services resulting into infringement of the rights of privacy, freedom of expression and right to freely access the lawful online content. In this essay we would discuss the issues involved in both these approaches. Keywords: Network Neutrality, Rights of Privacy, Freedom of Expression, Right to Freely Access, Approach to Net Neutrality

2015

This book is the result of a collective work aimed at providing deeper insight into what is network neutrality, how does it relates to human rights and free competition and how to properly frame this key issue through sustainable policies and regulations. The Net Neutrality Compendium stems from 3 years of discussions nurtured by the members of the Dynamic Coalition on Network Neutrality (DCNN), an open and multi-stakeholder group, established under the aegis of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, 2008

In this paper, historical functionalities of the traditional Internet are contrasted with today's Internet functionalities of the “smart” Internet architecture. It is shown that network neutrality regulation prohibiting congestion management and traffic quality differentiation is contrary to economically founded allocation mechanisms. By regulation of remaining monopolistic bottleneck components within the local loop the transfer of market power from the telecommunications infrastructure into the complementary Internet access service markets can be avoided. Regulation between access service providers and Internet application service providers is not only superfluous but detrimental.

Review of Network Economics, 2000

Network neutrality" encompasses a wide-ranging debate over what limits, if any, should be placed on network providers in pricing or managing Internet traffic. The articles in this volume tackle various aspects of this debate: Have other transportation networks been truly "neutral"? Should broadband providers be allowed to charge content providers for connecting with end users? How much price discrimination is appropriate and is it confined to network operators? How large are the potential costs of constraining traffic management practices? What are the tradeoffs from mandated loop unbundling to deter discrimination and what market power threshold justifies interventions?

2010

Regulating the Web: Network Neutrality and the Fate of the Open Internet, 2012

Network neutrality is a critical principle that defines the Internet's network design. Broadly, network neutrality refers to the notion that "the network itself should be neutral and not specialized for any specific applications or platforms." As such, it should "treat all kinds of information, content and sites equally." 1 Debates over network neutrality center around whether or not Internet network operators should be able to alter the quality of access to content based on a content provider's ability to pay for faster download speeds or speedier access.

The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy, 2019

2011

The paper deals with technical aspects of network neutrality. General concept of network neutrality is elaborated and two problems are identified: the problem of network capacity and traffic management. The experimental network model is proposed with regard to different classes of Internet services and bandwidth. Each class represents a set of users with similar web related interests/needs and includes different combinations of web based services corresponding to specific user interests and online activities. The bandwidth allocations are based on quality of experience (QoE) measures. The proposed model is evaluated on the Croatian academic network topology. Evaluation results propose number of users per each class depending on the available bandwidth.

Infrastructuring Publics, 2019

There is no neutrality when it comes to net neutrality. Set up in the trenches between digital infrastructure and new media publics, net neutrality has become one of the defining controversies of internet governance, concerning fundamental questions regarding access, digital civil rights and the net’s affordances. A definition of net neutrality partly conceals its contested character, but as an artefact of an ongoing controversy, the Wikipedia entry provides some orientation: "Net neutrality is the principle that governments should mandate Internet service providers to treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication." (Wikipedia 2018a) By now, net neutrality is almost inseparable from other widely discussed trajectories of digitally networked media such as mass surveillance and censorship. Ever since it became an issue in itself, net neutrality is constantly under repair, flickering in and out with political changes and activist engagement. Unlike policy-related papers, this article takes a different approach to the formation of net neutrality as a contested issue, with specific reference to US media publics. Along with Susan Leigh Star, I propose to understand it as a boundary object that has developed into a global “ideal type” (Star 1989, p. 49; Star and Griesemer 1989, p. 410). Boundary objects mediate between the informational requirements of heterogeneous social worlds (or publics). They aggregate different and even opposing viewpoints in a controversy without necessarily reconciling them. More specifically, as an “ideal-type” boundary object, net neutrality retains its interpretative flexibility for heterogeneous stake- holders from different social worlds (Pinch and Bijker 1987). It allows for different imaginations of how all data and “content” circulation should work on the internet. While an ideal-type boundary object “does not accurately describe the [technical, SG] details”, for example of non-discriminatory data package transmission and internet architecture, it is in fact “fairly vague” (Star and Griesemer 1989, p. 410). Precisely because of its contested definition, net neutrality seems to be adaptable by all stakeholders for their purposes. This adaptability and interpretative flexibility is key to local appropriation and to the similar, yet not identical formations of net neutrality as an issue of public concern. Although there is no neutrality of stakeholders’ interests when it comes to net neutrality, even the most adversarial proponents will agree that the controversy deals with the question of how the internet should work as a global, yet techno-legally localised infrastructure. Obviously, there is no standardisation of related protocols that could ever deliver ‘real’ network neutrality. In producing an administrative and legal ideal type that is actually rather vague, the controversy is creating an abstraction from historical and actual infrastructural practice.

IEEE Communications Magazine, 2016

Network neutrality has been topic of discussion for the past 25 years, with current legislation/regulation in the US and Europe targeting the ISPs or "common carriers". But the reality of the Internet in the 2010s is that various actors contribute to the delivery of data, with sometimes contradictory objectives. In this paper, we highlight the fact that neutrality principles can be bypassed in many ways without violating the rules currently evoked in the debate. For example via Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), which deliver content on behalf of content providers for a fee, or via search engines, which can hinder competition and innovation by affecting the visibility and accessibility of content. We therefore call for an extension of the net neutrality debate to all the actors involved in the Internet delivery chain. We particularly challenge the definition of net neutrality as it is generally discussed. Our goal is to initiate a relevant debate for net neutrality in an increasingly complex Internet ecosystem, and to provide examples of possible neutrality rules for different levels of the delivery chain, this level separation being inspired by the OSI layer model.

Telecommunications Policy, 2013

This paper is intended as an introduction to the debate on net neutrality and as a progress report on the growing body of academic literature on this issue. Different non-net neutrality scenarios are discussed and structured along the two dimensions of network and pricing regime. With this approach, the consensus on the benefits of a deviation from the status quo as well as the concerns that are unique to certain non-net neutrality scenarios can be identified. Moreover, a framework for policy decisions is derived and it is discussed how the concept of neutrality extends to other parts of the Internet ecosystem.