The Other 98% - Politics for the Rest of Us. Data.gov. Ushahidi :: Crowdsourcing Crisis Information (FOSS) It's Time to Reboot America. | Rebooting America. Sunlight Foundation. The Liberty Amendment. Jousting for Justice | Progressive Politics with a Maryland Tilt. Isreali/Lebanese Coffin Counter. Net neutrality. Net neutrality (also network neutrality or Internet neutrality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. The term was coined by Columbia media law professor Tim Wu.[1][2][3][4] The term "net neutrality" is vague and confusing to many. Another accepted description is "open internet" where you can use your internet connection for anything you wish at no additional charge and with no restrictions—this would be a net neutral environment.
A "closed internet" refers to a situation where corporations can restrict what you see over an internet connection and charge for it. There has been extensive debate about whether net neutrality should be required by law. Definitions[edit] Absolute non-discrimination Limited discrimination without QoS tiering Limited discrimination and tiering. Network neutrality.
Principle that Internet service providers should treat all data equally Supporters of net neutrality argue that it prevents ISPs from filtering Internet content without a court order, fosters freedom of speech and democratic participation, promotes competition and innovation, prevents dubious services, and maintains the end-to-end principle, and that users would be intolerant of slow-loading websites. Opponents argue that it reduces investment, deters competition, increases taxes, imposes unnecessary regulations, prevents the Internet from being accessible to lower income individuals, and prevents Internet traffic from being allocated to the most needed users, that large ISPs already have a performance advantage over smaller providers, and that there is already significant competition among ISPs with few competitive issues. Regulatory considerations [edit] Internet neutrality The term dumb pipe was coined in the early 1990s and refers to water pipes used in a city water supply system.
Net Neutrality vs. Net Neutering. The fight for Net Neutrality is for the place we call the Net. The fight against Net Neutrality is for a neutered Net biased toward carrying the next form of Cable TV. But what about the fact that most of us never have experienced Neutrality in the first place? An earlier version of this article was presented in Doc's March 2, 2006, SuitWatch newsletter.
Click here to subscriber to SuitWatch. It's time to define the Internet. We haven't done that yet--certainly not in a way that allows lawmakers and regulators to operate from the same set of assumptions that we do--"we" being the Net-savvy techies of the world. As I pointed out last November in"Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes", carriers subordinate the Net to the pipes that carry it, which they own.
Meanwhile, copyright extremists of the Hollywood school see the Net as a big "content" business and carriers as ideally positioned to offer "piracy" protections at the backbone level. Democracy for Virginia: Legislative Sentry: HB1677 - Have Miscarriage, Go to Jail? UPDATE: If you are visiting this link for the first time, please read this clarification and this update before contacting Delegate Cosgrove, whose office has been inundated by emails. The email deluge is a Good Thing, IMO, but only if the emails themselves are based on a full understanding of his proposed legislation. So please read before you rant! :-) And thanks for caring enough to rant, to act, to inform yourselves, to get involved. I'm in awe. The update includes the text of the email that Delegate Cosgrove asked me to share with readers. Imagine the following scenario. You are at home alone at 8:00 on a Friday night. All of a sudden, you begin to experience heavy cramping.
You decide not to tell your parents yet; let them sleep through the night before delivering the terrible news. Guess what? True? Incredulous? HB1677, “Report of Fetal Death by mother, penalty” Background: Reporting of Fetal Deaths Almost all states mandate reporting of fetal deaths to vital statistics bureaus. League of Women Voters.