A Primer on Network Neutrality
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A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Frieden, Rob Article — Published Version A primer on network neutrality Intereconomics Suggested Citation: Frieden, Rob (2008) : A primer on network neutrality, Intereconomics, ISSN 0020-5346, Springer, Heidelberg, Vol. 43, Iss. 1, pp. 4-15, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10272-008-0237-z This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/42030 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu DOI: 10.1007/s10272-008-0237-z NETWORK NEUTRALITY Rob Frieden* A Primer on Network Neutrality he Internet has quickly evolved from a collection of ously discrete ICE services, the stakes have risen in Tspecialized networks, primarily for electronic mail terms of whether the competitive playing fi eld exists correspondence among government and academic for consumer access to the variety of services avail- users, to a worldwide web of networks and services able via the Internet, and for service provider access providing a widely available blend of information, com- to consumers. munications and entertainment (ICE).1 Governments The Internet continues to evolve as it incorporates fi nancially underwrote the construction and use of the technological innovations and becomes a conduit for fi rst generation Internet, but quickly withdrew funding many services that previously traversed dedicated and management when commercial enterprises could telecommunications networks. As the Internet begins assume the responsibility. In its second generation the to offer convergent services, such as Voice over the Internet proliferated and diversifi ed as a largely priva- Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services and Inter- tized World Wide Web offering user friendly graphical net Protocol Television (IPTV), some operators may interfaces and other enhancements. The Internet has perceive the opportunity to accrue a fi nancial or com- begun to evolve into a third generation that will provide petitive benefi t by deviating from a plain vanilla, “one users with high speed access to an ever more diverse size fi ts all” Internet, characterized by nondiscrimina- array of ICE services. tory, best efforts routing of traffi c3 and “all you can eat” In its third generation the Internet may become subscriptions. more centralized and operates as the key medium for Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) seek to di- many services that heretofore operated separately. A versify the Internet by prioritizing bitstreams and by of- centralized Internet may incorporate much of the ex- fering different quality of service guarantees. To some isting broadcasting, wireline and wireless telephony observers this strategy constitutes harmful discrimina- and video programming services. Already incumbent tion that violates a tradition of network neutrality in the telephone and cable television operators offer cus- switching, routing and transmission of Internet traffi c. tomers a triple or quadruple play combination of these To others offering different levels of service provides 2 services. the means for consumers and carriers to secure and As the Internet becomes the key medium for most pay for premium, “better than best efforts” service if ICE services, industry observers, academics, con- so desired. sumer representatives and others have expressed concern whether service providers will manage their 1 For background on how the Internet evolved from a government networks fairly. Advocates for network neutrality seek underwritten project to a privatized and commercialized medium, cf. Rob Frieden: Revenge of the Bellheads: How the Netheads Lost carrier assurance and possibly regulator-established Control of the Internet, in: Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 26, No. rules to ensure that the Internet continues to operate 6, pp. 125-144, Sep./Oct. 2002; cf. also Barry M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf, David D. Clark, Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Dan- in a nondiscriminatory manner, both in terms of how iel C. Lynch, Jon Postel, Larry G. Roberts, Stephen Wo l f f : A subscribers access and receive Internet transmitted Brief History of the Internet, Internet Society, available at: http://www. services and how content and other service provid- isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml. 2 ers reach subscribers. Throughout the phases of its “[T]raditional phone companies that are primed to offer a ‘triple play’ of voice, high-speed Internet access, and video services over development, the Internet has benefi ted from prudent their respective networks.” Exclusive Service Contracts for Provision decisions by governments to use a light hand when of Video Services in Multiple Dwelling Units and Other Real Estate Developments, Notice of Proposed Rule Making, 22 FCC Rcd. 5935, regulating and safeguarding national interests. Gov- 5938 (2007). The quadruple play refers to the combination of “video, ernments correctly recognized that they could rely broadband Internet access, VoIP and wireless service . ..” AT&T Inc. and Bellsouth Corporation, Application for Transfer of Control, Memo- on the motivations of mostly private stakeholders to randum Opinion and Order, 22 FCC Rcd. 5662, 5735 (2007). build the telecommunications links and to diversify 3 “TCP/IP routes packets anonymously on a ‘fi rst come, fi rst served’ the services available from the World Wide Web. But and ‘best efforts’ basis. Thus, it is poorly suited to applications that are less tolerant of variations in throughput rates, such as streaming on the other hand as the Internet consolidates previ- media and VoIP, and is biased against network-based security fea- tures that protect e-commerce and ward off viruses and spam.” Chris- * Professor of Telecommunications and Law, Penn State University, topher S. Yo o : Beyond Network Neutrality, in: Harvard Journal of Law Pennsylvania, USA. & Technology, Vol. 19, Fall 2005, pp. 1, 8. 4 Intereconomics, January/February 2008 NETWORK NEUTRALITY Network neutrality refers to the view that the Internet and oth- Voice over the Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) offers voice com- er telecommunications and information processing networks munications capabilities, much like ordinary telephone serv- should remain open, nondiscriminatory and largely managed ice, using the packet switched Internet, for all or part of the link by users rather than carriers. The principle supports end-to- between call originator and call recipient. VoIP calls originating end connectivity and the kind of access equality provided by or terminating over the standard, dial up telephone network re- “best efforts” network routing of traffi c. Opponents of network quire conversion from or to the standard telephone network’s neutrality claim the concept would impose common carrier architecture that creates a dedicated “circuit-switched” link, nondiscrimination responsibilities on information service pro- as opposed to the ad hoc, “best efforts” packet switching viders, create disincentives for investment in next generation used in the Internet.1 network infrastructure and generate regulatory uncertainty.1 1 Cf. Mark C. Del Bianco: Voices Past: The Present and Fu- 1 Cf. Appropriate Framework for Broadband Access to the In- ture of VoIP Regulation, in: CommLaw Conspectus: Journal ternet over Wireline Facilities, Policy Statement, 20 FCC Rcd. of Communications Law and Policy, Vol. 14, 2006, pp. 365 14986 (2005) (articulating network neutrality policy objec- ff.; Robert Cannon: State Regulatory Approaches to VoIP: tives); Rob Frieden: Internet 3.0: Identifying Problems and Policy, Implementation, and Outcome, in: Federal Communi- Solutions to the Network Neutrality Debate, in: International cations Law Journal, Vol. 57, May 2005, pp. 479 ff.; Sunny Lu, Journal of Communication, Vol. 1, 2007, pp. 461 ff., available Note, Cellco Partnership v. FCC & Vonage Holdings Corp. v. at: http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/article/view/160/86; Rob Minnesota Public Utilities Commission: VoIP’s Shifting Legal Frieden: Network Neutrality or Bias? – Handicapping the and Political Landscape, in: Berkely Technology Law Journal, Odds for a Tiered and Branded Internet, in: Hastings Commu- Vol. 20, 2005, pp. 859, 862; Chérie R. Kiser, Angela F. Col- nications and Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 29, No. 2, 2007, lins: Regulation on the Horizon: Are Regulators Poised to Ad- pp. 171-216; Brett Frischmann, Barbara van Sche- dress the Status of IP Telephony?, in: CommLaw Conspectus: wick: Network Neutrality and the Economics of an Informa-