- 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 extending the
definition to suit their own agendas and interests -- and then to have
government enforce it. For example:
- BitTorrent, Inc. and Vuze,
Inc. - Want no mitigation of the network protocol from which
they profit... even though this protocol monopolizes networks, degrades
performance, and inappropriately shifts
costs from content providers to ISPs
- Free Press and "Orthodox
End-to-Endians" - Want no network management at all! Free Press FCC
petition defines quality of service measures for Internet telephony, as
well as tiered pricing (paying more for service that costs more to
provide), as "discrimination" and asks that they be prohibited
- Adoption
and enforcement of an inappropriate definition could raise costs,
degrade Internet service, shut down many ISPs (especially small
and rural)
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