Net Neutrality: college media needs to know

There’s a debate that’s been raging about a concept called “net neutrality” that college media outlets should be watching closely, as it could affect their online futures.

Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig has a good capsule opinion piece in the Financial Times that argues for net neutrality: Congress must keep broadband competition alive.

YouTube could beat Google because the internet provided a level playing field. The owners of pipes delivering video content to users on the internet did not prefer one service over the other. The owners of pipes simply passed the packets of data to users as the users chose. No doubt Google and YouTube worked to make that content flow as fast as possible by buying caching servers and fast connections. But once it was on the internet, the network owner showed no preference, serving each competitor equally.

Network owners now want to change this by charging companies different rates to get access to a “premium” internet. YouTube, or blip.tv, would have to pay a special fee for their content to flow efficiently to customers. If they do not pay this special fee, their content would be relegated to the “public” internet – a slower and less reliable network. The network owners would begin to pick which content (and, in principle, applications) would flow quickly and which would not.

Lessig’s point should not be lost on college media advocates. Do you think college publications will be able to jump onto a “first tier” of content providers? Given the often skimpy budgets for college media, I doubt that will happen - especially if the college media in question isn’t on a large service like College Publisher.

The arguments are complex, but the two sides are represented in this Wikipedia entry.
For another explanation of the perils of net non-neutrality, listen to this “On The Media” report from last week: The Piper Wants to Get Paid (transcript).

For more information on the net neutrality debate from the “pro neutrality” side, visit Savetheinternet.com (see list of coalition members).

For more information from the “anti neutrality” side, visit Hands off the Internet (see list of member organizations)

Lessig article found via Timothy Karr.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite