A Series of Tubes: Infrastructure, Broadband, and Baseline Content Control

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February 12

The late Senator Ted Stevens famously said in a 2006 committee meeting that the “Internet is not something that you just dump something on; it’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes.” While he was ridiculed widely at the time, Senator Stevens’s remarks actually reveal an interesting hortatory description of what the Internet should be (though given the rest of his comments, apparently not one that he intended). What Stevens’s metaphor suggests is that the physical conduits of the Internet should act like nothing more than non-judgmental conduits of the rest of the world’s traffic. We will see this week, however, that this is not a true reflection of how the tubes work, and we have strong debates as to what the government's role should be in ensuring that large enough "tubes" reach all those who would like to be online. The big questions for this week: What are the “tubes” of the Internet? Should the tubes have a role in controlling the throughput content? What is the role of government when it comes to developing and regulating our Internet-tubes?

Our guest speaker this week will be Rob Faris, the Research Director of the Berkman Center, who has been heavily involved in broadband infrastructure policy and research.


Readings

Optional Readings

  • Dawn Nunziato, Virtual Freedom (Chs. 1 & 7) (pending)


Assignment 1

Assignment 1 is due before class today (i.e., February 12th before 5:30pm ET). You can submit the assignment here.

TAG Student ID#10789842 Assignment #1


What the rule is?

Net Neutrality, also referred to as Network Neutrality or Internet Neutrality, deals with creating and maintaining a neutral internet. This term maintains the view that internet and internet circulation should be treated equally. That is, the concept of discrimination or charging contrarily is non-existent (Raman 2011). The evolvement of the internet continued on December 21, 2010, as the F.C.C. approved a compromise that involved both sectors of the internet, one, for land line internet providers and the other for, the now popular, wireless internet (WIFI) (Net Neutrality 2010). The vote resulted in 3 to 2, with Democratic representatives approving it and the Republican representatives rejecting it (Net Neutrality 2010).

Why this matters?

Net Neutrality matters because this rule established by Wikipedia establishes a check and balance to provide the parameters of control to protect the integrity of the platform. With these protections and controls in place it not only protects the integrity of the platform and its participants, but it also protects the rights and freedoms of the owners of the content referenced. It is vital to discover a blend of technical and economic modernizations. The purpose of this will be for implementing satisfactorily lucrative to partake in structure, upholding and expansion of unrestricted internet (Johari. n.d.) .

How it relates to other rules, and comments on the details/subsections of the rule.

Net Neutrality has several related issues. Two examples of this are:

The End to end principal: This is a principal created to distinguish the communications system at the end of each internet interaction (Kempf 2004).

Data Discrimination: In order for an internet connection, or otherwise network to uphold neutral and impartial, the internet user (customer) must not be concerned in the choosing of provider. This would prevent the customer of having the choice of switching from provider to another (Robertson 2007).

What is the article you chose?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_innovation

Why you chose it?

In 1997 the term “Disruptive Innovation” was created by a Harvard Professor Clayton M. Christensen and published a book on the topic. Throughout my professional career I have strived to bring to market paradigm shifts in technologies, some would classify as disruptive innovations. Three classic examples of disruptive innovations that sacrificed quality for the ability to have mobility are: - The Transistor Radio - Pocket Calculators - Mobile Phones

What edits you made? The edit I made was by adding the example of the pocket calculator, which was a form of disruptive innovation.

File:LSTUEdit


Did users made edits in response? None

Rule for the article: How the rule played out in practice (if it did) The Net Neutrality Rule did not play a significant role in this particular article, but it has the possibility of future violations. As new technology enters into the market there could be a cause for the technology being replaced to attempt to promote the inadequacies of this new technology in an attempt to keep market share. An example of this is how Rockefeller spent millions in an attempt to promote the inadequacies of electricity when it challenged his oil lanterns as the primary source of power. Rule for the community: How you think the rule plays a role in maintaining Wikipedia. In reporting or educating being neutral and unbiased is critical in forming free minds that can shape the world through their own interpretations and innovations. How does it benefit/harm the Wikipedia community in any way? Net Neutrality allows for an advancement of society, technology, and innovations. Why is it important for Wikipedia? This is important for Wikipedia so it sets the environmental parameters to establish them as a reliable informational resource, instead of a platform to promote individual’s political motives. Bibliography

Kempf, J. March 2004. The Rise of the Middle and the Future of End-to-End:

Reflections on the Evolution of the Internet Architecture. ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3724.txt

Net Neutrality. n.d. http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/ timestopics/subjects/n/net_neutrality/index.html

Raman, Manikandan. January 3, 2011. What Is Net Neutrality? What Does This Mean To You? http://www.ibtimes.com/what-net-neutrality-what-does-mean-you-252523

Ramesh Johari. n.d. What Is Net Neutrality and Why Does It Matter? http://engineering.stanford.edu/research/ate/johari

Robertson, Jordan. November 11, 2008. Software Aims To Uncover ‘Data Discrimination’.http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22013943/ns/technology_and_science-internet/t/software-aims-uncover-data-discrimination/#.URVFKaVX3MA

Videos Watched in Class

Links

Class Discussion

Please remember to sign your postings by adding four tildes (~~~~) to the end of your contribution. This will automatically add your username and the date/time of your post, like so: Asellars 15:29, 21 January 2013 (EST)

Weekly Response by TAG

Benkler discussed in his paper, the Next Generation Connectivity, was intriguing to me. To examine how the United States is lagging in the transition from broadband to the next generation technology. He stated, "High capacity networks are seen as strategic infrastructure, intended to contribute to high sustainable economic growth and to the core aspects of human development." I am in agreement with this view. By limiting access by weaker technology it will hurt economic growth and future development of countries.

Competition is paramount in the advancement of technology and the industry as a whole. The open access policies allow for a competitive market to allow for innovation to take hold. The way to maximize access is to allow for a wireless/nomadic platform, which will reach all the corners of the world. Countries which have invested in these areas have seen better results. The lack of competition is what has been a material flaw in the United States armor, causing them to drop back in the pack. These lack of freedoms and choices is what Adam Theirer was speaking about in his article. With new players like Google entering into the equation, it will only be a matter of time before access and affordability will be attainable by all. Interestingcomments 06:19, 6 February 2013 (EST)