MS Blog 2 - Net Neutrality

-Network Neutrality, or Net Neutrality for short, is the fundamental principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality is defined as a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that allows no restrictions. This comes from Internet service providers based on contents, sites, platforms, equipment attached, and certain modes of communication. (Dictionary.com)

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/net_neutrality/index.html
This New York Times article explains how all sources throughout the Internet should be treated equally.

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=4773657#
This websites article elaborates on how the media plays a major role in net neutrality. The democratic position is drastically effected due to this cause and is thoroughly explained.

http://www.freepress.net/policy/internet/net_neutrality
Here, Free Press discusses what is actually coming of net neutrality and its effects. This is my favorite source simply because its gives specific companies and corporations reasons for wanting net neutrality eliminated.

Whats going on now?

-In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission had adopted four broad principles relating to the idea of network neutrality as part of a move to deregulate the Internet services provided by telephone companies.
-The F.C.C. under the Obama administration is moving to add a fifth principle that will prevent Internet providers from discriminating against certain services or applications.
-The F.C.C. had formally voted in 2008 to uphold a complaint against Comcast, saying that it had illegally inhibited users of its high-speed Internet service from using popular file-sharing software.
-The court case, which the federal appeals court ruled on in April 2010, centered on Comcast’s challenge of the 2008 F.C.C. order.

Personally, I agree with the companies that are against net neutrality. Basically, it takes away the opportunity for a powerhouse to thrive. Its just like anything, there's always someone better. The nation's largest telephone and cable companies, including Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow and which won't load at all. These companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to get rid of Net Neutrality, putting the future of the Internet at risk.