Search

The last decade has seen a strident public debate about the principle of 'net neutrality.' The economic literature has focused on two definitions of net neutrality. The most basic definition of net neutrality is to prohibit payments from content providers to internet service providers; this situation we refer to as a one-sided pricing model, in contrast with a two-sided pricing model in which such payments are permitted. Net neutrality may also be defined as prohibiting prioritization of traffic, with or without compensation. The research program then is to explore how a net neutrality rule would alter the distribution of rents and the efficiency of outcomes. After describing the features of the modern internet and introducing the key players, (internet service providers, content providers, and customers), we summarize insights from some models of the treatment of internet traffic, framing issues in terms of the positive economic factors at work. Our survey provides little support for the bold and simplistic claims of the most vociferous supporters and detractors of net neutrality. The economic consequences of such policies depend crucially on the precise policy choice and how it is implemented. The consequences further depend on how long-run economic trade-offs play out; for some of them, there is relevant experience in other industries to draw upon, but for others there is no experience and no consensus forecast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Network Neutrality (as commonly known) or Net Neutrality (as in Europe) (NN) gained attention, when Federal Communication Committee enacted the Open Internet Order. This paper reviews the development of NN debate process, and the opinions from different sides, including network providers, service providers, other relevant companies, governments and researchers. This paper also discusses the emphasis of NN's impact on future innovation. Human Bond Communication (HBC) is a future conception that involves all the five human senses for modelling the physical subject into information domain, so as to allow more expressive and holistic sensory information exchange for more human sentiment centric communications. Being a communication concept, HBC may involve a paradigm of conventional communication involving prioritization, differentiation and, etc. NN outcomes therefore can contribute significantly in modeling HBC platform. This paper extends NN discussion to a future communication concept of HBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many real-world networks, ranging from the world trade web to the Internet network, have been described by multi-local-worlds. It is obvious that the nodes within a local world are much more connected to each other than to the others outside the local world. A multi-local-world model can capture and describe these real-world networks' topological properties. Based on the local-world model, a weighted multi-local-world evolving network model is presented. This model combines selected nodes with preferential attachment and three kinds of local changes of weights. Using a rate equation and the mean-field method, we study the network's properties: the weight distribution and the strength distribution. We theoretically prove that the weight distribution and the strength distribution follow a power-law distribution in some conditions. Numerical simulations are in agreement with the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a two-sided model with two competing Internet platforms, and a continuum of Content Providers (CP's). We study the effect of a net neutrality regulation on capacity investments in the market for Internet access, and on innovation in the market for content. Under the alternative discriminatory regime, platforms charge a priority fee to those CP's which are willing to deliver their content on a fast lane. We find that under discrimination, investments in broadband capacity and content innovation are both higher than under net neutrality. Total welfare increases, though the discriminatory regime is not always beneficial to the platforms as it can intensify competition for subscribers. As platforms have a unilateral incentive to switch to the discriminatory regime, a prisoner's dilemma can arise. We also consider the possibility of sabotage, and show that it can only emerge, with adverse welfare effects, under discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The net neutrality debate is one of several sites of struggles to adapt and redefine rights and obligations of stakeholders in the Internet-centric communications system. Its outcomes will shape the future of the Internet and influence the level and distribution of its benefits. We identify key values that drive the net neutrality discussion and examine the governance mechanisms proposed to achieve these objectives. We find that there is no single policy instrument that allows realization of the range of valued political and economic objectives simultaneously. Contrary to some of the claims advanced in the current debate, safeguarding multiple goals requires a combination of instruments that will likely involve government and nongovernment measures. Furthermore, promoting goals such as the freedom of speech, political participation, investment, and innovation calls for complementary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examines the network neutrality debate, as represented online. The research begins by conducting network analysis to identify key websites, followed by retrieving the relevant documents and using content analysis. Results demonstrate that the online version of the debate skews heavily toward the pro-network neutrality side. The web debate also includes much higher proportions of voices from nonprofit sectors, especially nongovernmental organizations. Telecommunications companies and trade groups, which anchor the anti-network neutrality coalition, are relatively quiet online. These findings show groups that are less powerful making heavy use of online communication and, in light of the political history of the issue, they also suggest online mobilizing may help reshape the dynamics of issue advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The principle of Network Neutrality (NN) has been debated around the world for nearly two decades. NN states that all traffic in the Internet must be treated equally, regardless of content, origin and/or destination. The main motivation for this principle is to protect fair competition, innovation, and ensure freedom of choice for consumers. The global debate revolves around whether NN should be enforced through regulations or not, as well as the potential impact of such regulations – or lack thereof – on the telecommunications market. In this context, multiple governments worldwide have already implemented NN regulations. In this work, we give an overview of NN regulations in 50 countries across five continents. We first give a brief introduction to the NN global debate. Then, we describe some of the main aspects related to the regulatory process of each country/region. Finally, we compare the different regulations according to common and divergent features identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Net neutrality (NN) is a widely debated policy issue that has the potential to alter the dynamics of accessing online content. The focal point of the debate lies in whether broadband service providers (BSPs) should be allowed to charge content providers for the preferential delivery of their digital content. This decision will affect broadband market coverage for end consumers as well as the issues of long-term competition and innovation in the market of digital content. Our research aims to analyze and address these issues. We propose a game theoretical model with three players-the BSP, the content providers, and the consumers-where the BSP, in its capacity as a gatekeeper between the content providers and the consumers, is modeled as a two-sided market platform. We find that while abandoning the principle of NN might sometimes result in increased consumer surplus and broadband market coverage, it can also hinder the ability of startups to compete against established rivals and thus reduce innovation at the edge. The results should be of great interest to policymakers as they debate on this very crucial issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the difficulty in regulating network neutrality in the U.S. in 2011. Topics discussed include arguments in favor or preserving the open Internet, arguments in favor of regulation by rule of the Internet, and how these two can be reconciled. Information is provided on deep-packet inspection (DPI), the identification and storage of content information within network packets, which led to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) first attempt at online regulation through the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in 2009.

Abstract: As Internet applications evolve and require wider and more stable bandwidth, Internet service providers (ISPs) try to maximize their profit by controlling application service providers (ASPs); this has caused a network neutrality debate. This article categorizes ASPs into four groups by bandwidth-usage attributes and latency sensitivity. By estimating the efficiency of these groups, their efficiency differences are estimated, indicating evidence of discrimination of ISPs when network neutrality is not maintained. Meta-frontier analysis is used to compare efficiencies across companies using different production function technologies. Finally, a Tobit regression model is used to determine which variables explain the difference of efficiencies. The estimation result indicates that the discrimination of ISPs against ASPs is not significant enough to decrease the efficiency of any application group. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the U.S. court case Comcast v. U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which dealt with the FCC's authority to regulate Internet service providers (ISPs). Topics include network neutrality, discriminatory network management practices on consumers by ISPs, and the evolution of the broadband telecommunications market.

Network fragmentation occurs when the accessibility of a network-based resource to an observer is a function of how the observer is connected to the network. In the context of the Internet, network fragmentation is well known and occurs in many situations, including an increasing preponderance of network address translation, firewalls, and virtual private networks. Recently, however, new threats to Internet consistency have received media attention. Alternative namespaces have emerged as the result of formal objections to the process by which Internet names and addresses are provisioned. In addition, various governments and service providers around the world have deployed network technology that (accidentally or intentionally) restricts access to certain Internet content. Combined with the aforementioned sources of fragmentation, these new concerns provide ample motivation for a network that allows users the ability to specify not only the network location of Internet resources they want to view but also the perspectives from which they want to view them. Our vision of aperspective access network (PAN) is a peer-to-peer overlay network that incorporates routing and directory services that allow network perspective-sharing and nonhierarchical organization of the Internet. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a directory service for such networks. We demonstrate its feasibility and efficacy using measurements from a test deployment on PlanetLab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politically-charged notion of network neutrality came to the fore in the first decade of the 21st century, using analogy from transportation as one of the key tools in motivating arguments. This paper examines how the various notions around network neutrality (common carriage, regulation, price discrimination) have historically played out in the transportation sector, and suggests some of the current arguments fail to understand the nuances of how complex networks actually operate to serve the many demands placed on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with a debate on issues concerning net neutrality. It cites an argument by Internet service providers (ISPs) that net neutrality prevents them from offering tiered services to raise revenues while other businesses see it as an innovation opportunity. The U.S. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are being urged by both parties involved in the debate to enact clear rules that dictate the Internet's level of neutrality. The advantages and disadvantages of net neutrality are suggested. An overview of court ruling on the open Internet is also provided.

The article discusses the implications of Brexit on digital consumers in Great Britain. The topics discusses include the debate that rages within the European Single Market on the possibility for Great Britain to remain in the Digital Single Market (IDSM) and the effects of net neutrality on British consumers.

Summary: In the network neutrality debate, safeguarding innovations in the digital economy is an important concern. However, the impacts of network neutrality regulation on technological innovation in telecommunications have not been well understood, especially with mathematical model. This study first briefly discusses the significant role of technological innovation in telecommunications. Then, we adopt a stylized two‐sided model (Internet broadband provider connect the two sides of Internet, content providers and end customers) and use two‐stage game theory to examine the decision‐making of network operators and content providers in two alternative situations, respectively, that is, the neutral regime and non‐neutral regime. By comparing players' decisions in the two regimes, the impacts of network neutrality regulation on innovations are revealed. We find that non‐neutral regime increases both network infrastructure investments and congestion‐sensitive content innovations. In other words, network neutrality regulation inhibits telecommunications technological innovation and meanwhile hinders the emergence of high‐level content innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the question of whether or not the Internet can be reinvented. Topics include an overview of network neutrality which is an agreement whose core tenet is the control of the flow of information towards the end point of a network. Researchers, who are worried that the Internet has lost its innovative edge, support network neutrality with a shift away from the Internet's end-to-end principles with service providers in the middle. An in-depth discussion of the relationship between innovation and the Internet, the social network of users and coders in the peer production of software, and how policy-makers should respond to overcoming the problem of connectedness which is hampering radical innovation is presented.

This column discusses the Open Internet Access Order adopted by the FCC and debated by both Net neutrality advocates and Tea Party supporters. The author seeks to engage in a considered and grounded discussion of the order and its economic ramifications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including the article "Fitting Software Assurance Into Higher Education," by Samuel T. Redwine Jr. in the September 2010 issue, the article "The Future of the Computing Profession," in the July 2010 issue and the article "Whatever Happened to Network-Access-Control Technology?," by David Geer in the September 2010 issue.