- Original meaning: Refraining from anticompetitive practices
with regard to Internet content and services (e.g., phone and
cable companies interfering with competing products delivered via the
Internet connections they provide)
- Once this sensible notion
gained traction, parties with vested interests sought to "hijack the
bandwagon" by changing the
definition -- ironically -- so as to bias things in favor of
themselves! For example:
- BitTorrent,
Inc. and Vuze,
Inc. - Want no mitigation of the network protocol from which
they profit... even though this protocol actually makes networks
non-neutral (by exploiting flaws in TCP/IP), seizes priority over time
critical traffic,
degrades
performance, and inappropriately shifts
costs from content providers to ISPs
- Alcatel-Lucent has jumped
in, defining neutrality as not throttling their VPN when it tries to monopolize networks
(even if other protocols are throttled)
- Free Press and "Orthodox
End-to-Endians" - Ideological belief there should be no net management
at all! Free Press FCC
petition defines QoS measures for Internet telephony or tiered pricing
(paying more for service that costs more to
provide) as "discrimination" and asks that they be prohibited
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