Net Neutrality At A Crossroads

George Frost

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December 15, 2008

Net Neutrality At A Crossroads

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Today's Wall Street Journal features an article by Vishesh Kumar and Christopher Rhoads, Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web. The article reports:
Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers.
If you are interested in Net Neutrality, you should definitely read this article.

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Marco Barulli (not verified) December 16, 2008
Lessig ha just wrote a new post on his blog The made-up dramas of the Wall Street Journal.
The article is an indirect effort to gin up a drama about a drama about an alleged shift in Obama's policies about network neutrality. What's the evidence for the shift? That Google allegedly is negotiating for faster service on some network pipes. And that "prominent Internet scholars, some of whom have advised President-elect Barack Obama on technology issues, have softened their views on the subject." Who are these "Internet scholars"? Me. [...] But I do know something about my own views, and what the Journal has done here is really extraordinary.
And also David Isenberg has quite strong opinions on this WSJ article: Bogus WSJ Story on Net Neutrality
Gregory Heller December 15, 2008
The article talks about Google's own Eric Schmidt has been advising the Obama team (during the campaign and now during the transition) on internet and technology issues. Obama has been a staunch supporter of Net Neutrality to date. It will be interesting to see if his position changes as some of his advisers start to hedge. Lawrence Lessig also seems to be softening his position, according to the article,
"There are good reasons to be able to prioritize traffic," Mr. Lessig said later in an interview. "If everyone had to pay the same rates for postal service, than you wouldn't be able to differentiate between sending a greeting card to your grandma versus sending an overnight letter to your lawyer."