Critical Review of Barbara von Schewick 's part of Point Counterpoint: Network Neutrality Nuances
Net neutrality is a problematic subject that has been around now for a number of years, and is now becoming a widely known and heavily debated topic. The basic definition of net neutrality is that any major ISP or the government cannot provide a bias on, or modify data packets coming from online servers. In the article “Point/Counterpoint Network Neutrality Nuances” partially written by Barbara von Schewick, various points on net neutrality are presented, discussed and argued in detail. The basis of Schewick and her arguments were that law states very little on net neutrality and ISPs have virtual free reign on all of the information that passes …show more content…
ISPs are no exemption to this. If the option exists for an ISP to limit a resource to make distribution easier on their end, or more cost effective, they will do that. As stated by Schewick in her article, “Network providers may also be motivated to interfere with applications to manage bandwidth … if the use of the network increases, the network providers costs increase as well, but due to flat rate pricing, its revenues stay the same … Comcast[s] blocking of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer file-sharing is an example of this.” (Schewick, 32) This approach makes sense for the ISP, but it does not help the user and furthermore invalidates the idea of net neutrality. If an ISP is to block any sort of information accessible online, they invalidate the rules of net neutrality, as well it can inconvenience the user. Peer-to-peer file transfer is a commonly used means of transferring illegal/copyrighted material in large quantities which an ISP may have a problem with, however it takes away a means of communication for internet users. As stated by Scott Jordan, “Some ISPs also claim that net neutrality impinges on the ISP’s ability to perform network management tasks, including traffic shaping for p2p traffic” (Jordan, 5:13)ISPs do not like it when something exists that is out of their control, like a peer-to-peer network, as the ISP only exists
Net neutrality is a problematic subject that has been around now for a number of years, and is now becoming a widely known and heavily debated topic. The basic definition of net neutrality is that any major ISP or the government cannot provide a bias on, or modify data packets coming from online servers. In the article “Point/Counterpoint Network Neutrality Nuances” partially written by Barbara von Schewick, various points on net neutrality are presented, discussed and argued in detail. The basis of Schewick and her arguments were that law states very little on net neutrality and ISPs have virtual free reign on all of the information that passes …show more content…
ISPs are no exemption to this. If the option exists for an ISP to limit a resource to make distribution easier on their end, or more cost effective, they will do that. As stated by Schewick in her article, “Network providers may also be motivated to interfere with applications to manage bandwidth … if the use of the network increases, the network providers costs increase as well, but due to flat rate pricing, its revenues stay the same … Comcast[s] blocking of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer file-sharing is an example of this.” (Schewick, 32) This approach makes sense for the ISP, but it does not help the user and furthermore invalidates the idea of net neutrality. If an ISP is to block any sort of information accessible online, they invalidate the rules of net neutrality, as well it can inconvenience the user. Peer-to-peer file transfer is a commonly used means of transferring illegal/copyrighted material in large quantities which an ISP may have a problem with, however it takes away a means of communication for internet users. As stated by Scott Jordan, “Some ISPs also claim that net neutrality impinges on the ISP’s ability to perform network management tasks, including traffic shaping for p2p traffic” (Jordan, 5:13)ISPs do not like it when something exists that is out of their control, like a peer-to-peer network, as the ISP only exists