LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Network neutrality is a term that has been getting a lot of press recently and it should. You need to know what network neutrality is because it is in everyone's best interest to support it.
Telecom companies want to change the Internet in a way that would severely limit the network's gift to mankind - the free flow of data and ideas. Network neutrality is the idea that the network itself (in this case the Internet) should be neutral to the content and services.
That is the way the Internet was designed and it works beautifully. When you compose an e-mail or search in Google you send out packets that mean something only to you and your recipient. Every IP router in between is "dumb" to your content. All those routers know or are designed to know is where your packets are going so they can reach their destination. There is no way to distinguish traffic, and therefore you cannot prioritize or charge for specific types of traffic. More complexity means less reliability. Keep it simple, stupid.
Telecom companies (Internet service providers, or ISPs) such as Verizon want to change that. They are arguing that content providers like Google are getting a "free lunch." By not having to pay telecom companies for providing service to consumers, they say, Google gets a free ride.
In reality, Google does pay its dues to provide services, just like consumers Google has to pay for its Internet connection. Google, you and I all pay to get on the Internet. Telecoms now want content providers - like Google - to pay for the delivery of their payload.
To be fair, telecoms did sink billions into the infrastructure that made the Internet available. But think of how bland and useless a controlled network would become. All of those sites you frequent (like TheSequitur.com) would disappear unless they coughed up the cash demanded by telecoms.
Tuesday, the Senate held a hearing, chaired by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) [watch video] on this issue attended by both Internet and telecom company representatives. Vint Cerf, widely known as one of the Internet's founding fathers, said, "There are 250,000 networks that make up the Internet. They are compensated by its users ... Allowing broadband carriers to control what people see and do online would fundamentally undermine the principles that have made the Internet such a success."
Walter McCormick president of the U.S. Telecom Association said, "We will not block, impair, or degrade content, applications, or service ... That is the plainest, most direct way I know to address the concerns that have been raised."
Your word is not good enough, Mr. McCormick. We need to protect our freedoms.
As for the Senate, the majority of the committee seemed to be in favor of network neutrality. But that's not an outcome. A lot can happen throughout legislative process, and as citizens of the Internet we need to keep a close eye on this issue.
Sure Google and Vonage are big, but telecoms are bigger. Consider their history, the power of compound interest and how much you shell out for Internet access every month and multiply that by the millions of broadband subscribers in this country.
Progress 
