I own the pipes, you call the tune: The net neutrality debate and its (ir)relevance for Europe

I own the pipes, you call the tune: The net neutrality debate and its (ir)relevance for Europe
Author: Andrea Renda
Publisher: CEPS
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN: 9290798351

"The debate of the so-called "net neutrality" has been under the spotlight in the US for many years, whereas many believed it would not become an issue in Europe. However, over the past few months the need to revise the current regulatory framework to encourage investment in all-IP networks has led to greater attention for net neutrality and its consequences for investment and competition. After the Commission adopted a "light-touch" approach to the issue at the end of 2007, the European Parliament has started to reconsider the issue, and it is reportedly considering a move towards more pro-neutrality rules. This paper summarises the main issues at hand in the net neutrality debate and the views expressed by advocates and opponents of the neutrality principle. The problem is described from a multi-sided market perspective, stressing the role of network operators as intermediaries in the "layered" architecture of all-IP networks. Finally, the paper discusses whether the European regulatory framework and its interaction with ex post competition policy are likely to solve many of the concerns of net neutrality advocates without any need for ad hoc regulation; and whether currently proposed solutions are likely to prove welfare-enhancing and conducive to a better regulatory environment for future e-communications."--Cover.

Economic Knowledge in Regulation

Economic Knowledge in Regulation
Author: Lorna S Schrefler
Publisher: ECPR Press
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2014-12-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1910259691

It is conventional to argue that the autonomy and reputation of independent regulatory agencies (IRAs) depend on their expertise. Yet, studies on how IRAs create and deploy their knowledge capacity are few and far apart. By addressing the underexplored question of the role of economics in regulatory policy making, this book fills a gap in two different strands of literature: on IRAs and on knowledge utilisation respectively. Only a few authors have taken a somewhat comparable approach (eg McGarity 1991, Morgenstern 1997, Jennings and Hall 2011), but their work focuses on US regulators. Conversely, little has been written on their European counterparts. This book also proposes an innovative solution to operationalise hypotheses on the role of expertise in policy making, and makes this contribution particularly relevant for recent debates on evidence-based policy making. Finally, it takes a close look at specific regulatory decisions by one of the oldest and most authoritative regulators.

Net Neutrality: Contributions to the Debate

Net Neutrality: Contributions to the Debate
Author: Jorge Pérez Martínez (Coord.)
Publisher: Fundación Telefónica
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2011-03-30
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 8408098926

After a decade of discussion on how to guarantee an open, sustainable internet and often intense debate regarding the Federal Communications Commission's 2009 public hearing on the application of the principles of net neutrality, on 21st December 2010 the various elements that comprise the solution to this now famous controversy were passed. This solution has not satisfied many people, and nearly everyone agrees that it will not end the debate and nor will it resolve the underlying structural problems. This book examines the source, development and viewpoints on this issue based on contributions from leading experts from the academic and business worlds in the USA and Europe who have been involved in the debate. This is a highly important book for understanding the various points of view on the very current and controversial issue of web neutrality.

Regulating the Web

Regulating the Web
Author: Zachary Stiegler
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2013
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0739178687

Since its popularization in the mid 1990s, the Internet has impacted nearly every aspect of our cultural and personal lives. Over the course of two decades, the Internet remained an unregulated medium whose characteristic openness allowed numerous applications, services, and websites to flourish. By 2005, Internet Service Providers began to explore alternative methods of network management that would permit them to discriminate the quality and speed of access to online content as they saw fit. In response, the Federal Communications Commission sought to enshrine "net neutrality" in regulatory policy as a means of preserving the Internet's open, nondiscriminatory characteristics. Although the FCC established a net neutrality policy in 2010, debate continues as to who ultimately should have authority to shape and maintain the Internet's structure. Regulating the Web brings together a diverse collection of scholars who examine the net neutrality policy and surrounding debates from a variety of perspectives. In doing so, the book contributes to the ongoing discourse about net neutrality in the hopes that we may continue to work toward preserving a truly open Internet structure in the United States.

Network neutrality

Network neutrality
Author: Christopher T. Marsden
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2017-02-23
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1526105497

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) open access license. Net neutrality is the most contested Internet access policy of our time. This book offers an in-depth explanation of the concept, addressing its history since 1999, its engineering, the policy challenges it represents and its legislation and regulation. Various case studies are presented, including Specialized Services and Content Delivery Networks for video over the Internet, and the book goes on to examine the future of net neutrality battles in Europe, the United States and developing countries, as well as offering co-regulatory solutions based on FRAND and non-exclusivity. It will be a must-read for researchers and advocates in the net neutrality debate, as well as those interested in the context of communications regulation, law and economic regulation, human rights discourse and policy, and the impact of science and engineering on policy and governance.

From Net Neutrality to ICT Neutrality

From Net Neutrality to ICT Neutrality
Author: Patrick Maillé
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2022-11-05
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 303106271X

This book discusses the pros and cons of information and communication (ICT) neutrality. It tries to be as objective as possible from arguments of proponents and opponents, this way enabling readers to build their own opinion. It presents the history of the ongoing network neutrality debate, the various concepts it encompasses, and also some mathematical developments illustrating optimal strategies and potential counter-intuitive results, then extends the discussion to connected ICT domains. The book thus touches issues related to history, economics, law, networking, and mathematics. After an introductory chapter on the history of the topic, chapter 2 surveys and compares the various laws in place worldwide and discusses some implications of heterogeneous rules in several regions. Next, chapter 3 details the arguments put forward by the participants of the net neutrality debate. Chapter 4 then presents how the impact of neutral or non-neutral behaviors can be analyzed mathematically, with sometimes counter-intuitive results, and emphasizes the interest of modeling to avoid bad decisions. Chapter 5 illustrates that content providers may not always be on the pro-neutrality side, as there are situations where they may have an economic advantage with a non-neutral situation, e.g. when they are leaders on a market and create barriers to entry for competitors. Another related issue is covered in chapter 6, which discusses existing ways for ISPs to circumvent the packet-based rules and behave non-neutral without breaking the written law. Chapter 7 gives more insight on the role and possible non-neutral behavior of search engines, leading to another debate called the search neutrality debate. Chapter 8 focuses on e-commerce platforms and social networks, and investigates how they can influence users’ actions and opinions. The issue is linked to the debate on the transparency of algorithms which is active in Europe especially. Chapter 9 focuses on enforcing neutrality in practice through measurements: indeed, setting rules requires monitoring the activity of ICT actors in order to sanction non-appropriate behaviors and be proactive against new conducts. The chapter explains why this is challenging and what tools are currently available. Eventually, Chapter 10 briefly concludes the presentation and opens the debate.

The Paradoxes of Network Neutralities

The Paradoxes of Network Neutralities
Author: Russell A. Newman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2024-04-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0262551810

An argument that the movement for network neutrality was of a piece with its neoliberal environment, solidifying the continued existence of a commercially driven internet. Media reform activists rejoiced in 2015 when the FCC codified network neutrality, approving a set of Open Internet rules that prohibitedproviders from favoring some content and applications over others—only to have their hopes dashed two years later when the agency reversed itself. In this book, Russell Newman offers a unique perspective on these events, arguing that the movement for network neutrality was of a piece with its neoliberal environment rather than counter to it; perversely, it served to solidify the continued existence of a commercially dominant internet and even emergent modes of surveillance and platform capitalism. Going beyond the usual policy narrative of open versus closed networks, or public interest versus corporate power, Newman uses network neutrality as a lens through which to examine the ways that neoliberalism renews and reconstitutes itself, the limits of particular forms of activism, and the shaping of future regulatory processes and policies. Newman explores the debate's roots in the 1990s movement for open access, the transition to network neutrality battles in the 2000s, and the terms in which these battles were fought. By 2017, the debate had become unmoored from its own origins, and an emerging struggle against “neoliberal sincerity” points to a need to rethink activism surrounding media policy reform itself.

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality
Author: Miguel Angel de Diego Martín
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality
Author: Christopher T. Marsden
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2010-01-18
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1849660379

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Chris Marsden maneuvers through the hype articulated by Netwrok Neutrality advocates and opponents. He offers a clear-headed analysis of the high stakes in this debate about the Internet's future, and fearlessly refutes the misinformation and misconceptions that about' Professor Rob Freiden, Penn State University Net Neutrality is a very heated and contested policy principle regarding access for content providers to the Internet end-user, and potential discrimination in that access where the end-user's ISP (or another ISP) blocks that access in part or whole. The suggestion has been that the problem can be resolved by either introducing greater competition, or closely policing conditions for vertically integrated service, such as VOIP. However, that is not the whole story, and ISPs as a whole have incentives to discriminate between content for matters such as network management of spam, to secure and maintain customer experience at current levels, and for economic benefit from new Quality of Service standards. This includes offering a 'priority lane' on the network for premium content types such as video and voice service. The author considers market developments and policy responses in Europe and the United States, draws conclusions and proposes regulatory recommendations.

Why Discuss Network Neutrality?

Why Discuss Network Neutrality?
Author: Council of Europe
Publisher: Iris Plus
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9789287172464

Scarcity of Internet capacity is the starting point of the "network neutrality" debate. At the heart of the discussion is the question to what extent the legislature should tackle this shortage and its consequences through regulation, or whether the answer can be provided by free market forces. This IRIS plus is therefore, in a way, linked to an edition of the IRIS Special series entitled "To Have or Not to Have - Must-carry Rules" (ISBN 9789287158970). In the cable television sector, must-carry obligations have, in the past, granted access rights to distribution networks. This IRIS plus reports on the latest developments in the network neutrality debate, summarises the most recent changes in the legal framework for electronic communication and compares the situation in Europe with that in the USA.