So what is Net Neutrality, why should you be worried about it and what does it have to do with the Fourth of July?

I try to stay away from “geek speak” topics on this blog reserving those writings for my Amateur Radio blog where I’m sure they are of more interest to everyday readers. This however is one of those areas of technology that crosses over into the realm of political and social impact on the end users of computers and the Internet. If you are reading this assume that you fall into both of those categories.

I have been involved with and had a presence on the Internet for a number of years now. Having been heavily involved with dial up bulletin board systems from about the mid 1970’s when personal computer users created a number of networks, like Fido Net, that relayed text based messages all over the country and in some cases to a number of other countries around the world. The “on line” community was only a tiny fraction of today’s with numbers in the thousands not millions. The ARPA Net, fore runner of today’s Internet, was something only available to researchers and the world of academia. If you were not involved in one of these fields or had a friend who was you simply had no access to this new “on line world” that had been created as part of a Department of Defense project. I was fortunate to have such a friend introduced to me through my radio hobbies. Before the World Wide Web existed I was running an old Convergent Technology Mini Frame in my basement. This was a computer that when new had sold for over twelve thousand dollars and I bought used for under four hundred dollars as computer hardware power increased and prices dropped. That computer had a feed from a local university giving me access to net news and email all of this was done though a dial up modems at speeds that would make me cringe today.

This on line world that I started out in was an entirely different community than what we know today. It was sort of like being in a club or church congregation. Not everyone knew everyone else that was out there on line but we all shared a common bond of a fascination with the new medium of electronic communications. There was also an unwritten and unspoken agreement among those in this world on how we conducted ourselves and dealt with each other. There was very little pornography and where it existed it restricted its self to a corner of the on line universe with appropriate signs posted warning those who entered that there were no restrictions on what they might hear or see if they entered. Likewise there were standards for what was permissible in the use of the written word when disagreements arose during discussion of topics of interest. You could argue until you were “blue in face/keyboard” as long as you kept the tone of the argument civil. Those days I fear are gone and at this point in time I don’t see their return on the horizon. Time and technology marches on.

With the entry of the general public into this on line world and the introduction of tools like email and file transfers into the business world the net took on an entirely different look and feel. While for the most part all of this growth and influx of new people has, in my opinion, been a very good thing it has not been without its down side. As the commercial side of the network grew and both new and existing businesses discovered that there was money to be made in this brave new world those who had dominated the field for decades started looking for ways to leverage their long standing place in the market to their advantage. I don’t have a problem with this as I think free markets are the best way that we have come up with so far to conduct commerce and ensure growth. Where I do have a problem with this system is when one person or company is able to use that advantage to squash competition. Without competition free markets can neither function nor survive. This brings me to topic today about net neutrality.

When the Internet became a household buzz word the number of companies that were willing to provide access to the network mushroomed. Local Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, sprang up everywhere. I’m not quiet sure how it happened but though some miracle the government for the most part stayed out of trying to regulate the network its self or the connections that provided access to the new “information highway”. The telephone companies being restricted from supplying on line content were happy to be the providers of the “data pipe” that the content flowed through.

Unfortunately after decades of being a monopoly in the business and a business model that provided huge revenue streams from minimal investments they found it hard to give up the easy money this model provided when real competition came along to challenge them. Through market pressure and some court decisions phone companies have been forced to deal with this brave new world but they are still not happy about it.

Looking longingly back at the “good old days” they keep trying to come up with new ways to charge consumers large quantities of money simply because they can. The latest such scheme to rear its ugly head is a proposal to restrict what will flow through the data pipe based on content.

On the surface they seem to make a reasonable argument that users who subscribe to iTunes or other services that take a lot of bandwidth should pay more in the form of a surcharge applied to those services which of course they would have to pass on to the end user their customers. Here however is the real story.

What the large players in the communications world want to do is create a tiered Internet much the way that cable service is tiered. For just $19 a month we will give you access to the “data pipe” which will let you send and receive email and have access to MOST of the World Wide Web. Ah, but you say you would like access to the Google search engine and perhaps a cluster of national and international news reporting services such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today and the BBC. For that you will need to be in the next higher service tier. Don't worry, its ONLY two dollars a month more you won't miss two dollars a month would you? Especially for all of that additional content. Once that model is in place it will be only a matter of time before there are a large number of those tiers with the upper levels ones costing much more than the entry level ones.

As bandwidth and speed increase on the net you are going to see more and more goods and services supplied via your computer. A recent communications bill before the Senate had an amendment defeated that would have ensured net neutrality after a lot of pressure was brought to bear by lobbyists from the telephone industry. This is one of those areas where when the wheel squeaks you had better have either some very expensive grease, also known as campaign finance money, or a very large number of people especially those who vote that demand that the wheel be fixed correctly with the proper bearings.

One of the ways you can become one of those voices is to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (EFF) While I don't agree with all of the positions that this organization takes I feel they do good work and I support them both financially and by speaking in unison with them when I agree with laws or policies they try to influence. Of course you can also make your presence felt in other ways. Registering to vote and actually voting go a long way toward making yourself a force. Along with that you need to write and or call your elected representatives and let them know how you feel about issues that they will be voting on and that you indeed are aware of their voting record and consider it when you cast your ballet at election time.

This may seem like a lot in todays busy world with all there is to contend with on a day to day basis but it is just one of the prices that we pay for living in the free and open society that we have in this country. This being the Fourth of July, the date we celebrate birth of that freedom and independence I think it is worth considering. I hope you all have a very safe and happy Fourth of July holiday.