net neutrality

This topic is not centered on Human Factors, but it is something that is critically important to the development of Internet innovation so it will affect most of us in many ways.

For those of you not familiar with the basic premise, here are the two sides:

Telecoms: The fairest and most efficient way to fund the development of bandwidth is for companies that use more bandwidth to pay more for that use. So if your site has high-res graphics, video, audio, or simply lots of visitors, you will pay more for their access. A text only site with three visitors will pay the minimum. This is the basis of the free market system. And anyway, they own the bandwidth, so even if you think this is a bad idea, it is their private property on which to make such mistakes.

Internet companies: The greatest innovations of the Internet age have come about because there are minimal start-up costs to create the next greatest thing. I you think of the Web 2.0 services and other new companies (MySpace, YouTube, Skype, even Google), they were created by college students in their dorm rooms. If they had to pay for every bit, they could not have afforded to get started. And even established companies would be hesitant to create new services (think online banking) if the bandwidth used would not be covered by the extra revenue. If they charge for the new services, no one will try them out and great services will be killed at the outset.

Social organizations: It is very rare for MoveOn.org and the Christian Coalition to agree on anything, but here is one. If they (and other non-profits) had to pay for every visitor who clicks on their sites, it would kill the circulation of their ideas. Independent bloggers (especially Vloggers) would disappear. Local governments would not be able to afford to support their services. Charities would lose their online fundraising capabilities. So we need net neutrality.

And most people realize that government often screws up regulation of technology. They move too slowly to regulate something that moves so fast. Even if the regulation was good to start, technology would change and it would take 10 years for the government to update the regulation. And the regulations they do enact are generally flawed because of the influence of lobbyists, special interests, and a general ignorance of technology by the average politician.

So you are probably asking whether I am in favor of government regulation of net neutrality. To be honest, I am torn. I wish there was a free market solution. It is possible that competition in the telecom industry would create net neutrality because anyone who tried to charge more would lose business. But I don't think that there is enough competition at present to do this. So some government regulation is necessary. But how to do it, I don't know.