Net Neutrality

I found that being asked to discuss the most important features of the conflict of net neutrality was a little bit ironic, considering the fact that I'm discussing these points on a blog. 

Net neutrality refers to what kind of restrictions should be placed on this infinite space known as the internet and what gets published here. The ideas that users should be in control of the content they view, and what they have access to use, are some of the fundamental points in the net neutrality conflict. The question becomes; which side of the conflict are you on?

One side of the argument says that net neutrality is a necessity, and something that will shape the future of the internet. There are some major corporations who want to decide what information you get, how fast you get it, and what they can gain from this. If this were the case, the openness and freedom that most users find in the internet would be gone.

On the other side of the argument, there are those that believe that net neutrality should stay exactly where it is. With the ability to see what you want, when you want, most users find the internet to be the most open space available. They are fundamentally against the control that some people want to enforce on the world wide web.

What I found most interesting in doing this research was this; when doing a quick Google search for some opposing definitions of Net Neutrality, I came across this - www.google.com/help/netneutrality.html. This is a site posted by Google to "help" users understand the ideas of net neutrality. Although the site is against net neutrality and promoting stricter controls on the internet, it seems to be promoting it's source (Google) quite a bit. Encouraging the user to do further readings sponsored by Google, with quotes from Google associates. Seem like control to you? Same here. It seems as though it is a minimal way to promote oneself while promoting the greater good at the same time.

However, the site did provide me with two quotations that seem to be very apt on the subject of net neutrality:

"Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see or do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the internet such a success...A number of justifications have been created to support carrier control over consumer choices online; none stand up to scrutiny." - Vint Cerf, Google Chief Internet Evangelist and Co-Developer of the Internet Protocol

"The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net." - Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web