Tag: Net Neutrality

The political debate over Net Neutrality has been going on for many, many years now in this country against the backdrop of freedom of information vs. censorship. Write an essay explaining a brief timeline of the controversy, who the stakeholders in the debate are, and what position they are taking in the controversy. Explain whose position you support and why. It is possible you will not agree with either point of view completely. In that event, propose a compromise solution and explain why it is the better outcome of the debate. Below are two short articles outlining the basic idea of the debate. After reading them, research the topic in more depth and use facts or quotations from articles you find to support any conclusions you draw. You must reference at least two additional sources.

The term net neutrality refers to the equality of data as it is transferred over the Internet. For instance, the data from an individual and the data from Microsoft are treated the same. A recent controversy surrounding the cable giant Comcast brought up the possibility of ISPs interfering with the delivery of Internet data. According to complaints by customers, Comcast has been blocking the use of P2P sites like BitTorrent to download movies, music, and other large files. Comcast, like most ISPs, includes a statement in its terms of service that allows it to use tools to “efficiently manage its networks,” in order to prevent those customers using a higher than normal level of bandwidth from interfering with the access of other customers. However, the Comcast issue was considered by many to be a blatant net neutrality issue—blocking access to multimedia from sources other than its own cable sources.

Do you think the actions taken by Comcast were ethical?

Does an ISP have a right to block selected Internet traffic? Why or why not?

Was there a more ethical way Comcast could have handled the problem of some users consuming a higher than normal level of bandwidth?

The term net neutrality refers to the equality of data as it is transferred over the Internet. For instance, the data from an individual and the data from Microsoft are treated the same. A recent controversy surrounding the cable giant Comcast brought up the possibility of ISPs interfering with the delivery of Internet data. According to complaints by customers, Comcast has been blocking the use of P2P sites like BitTorrent to download movies, music, and other large files. Comcast, like most ISPs, includes a statement in its terms of service that allows it to use tools to “efficiently manage its networks,” in order to prevent those customers using a higher than normal level of bandwidth from interfering with the access of other customers. However, the Comcast issue was considered by many to be a blatant net neutrality issue—blocking access to multimedia from sources other than its own cable sources.

Do you think the actions taken by Comcast were ethical?

Does an ISP have a right to block selected Internet traffic? Why or why not?

Was there a more ethical way Comcast could have handled the problem of some users consuming a higher than normal level of bandwidth?

The term net neutrality refers to the equality of data as it is transferred over the Internet. For instance, the data from an individual and the data from Microsoft are treated the same. A recent controversy surrounding the cable giant Comcast brought up the possibility of ISPs interfering with the delivery of Internet data. According to complaints by customers, Comcast has been blocking the use of P2P sites like BitTorrent to download movies, music, and other large files. Comcast, like most ISPs, includes a statement in its terms of service that allows it to use tools to “efficiently manage its networks,” in order to prevent those customers using a higher than normal level of bandwidth from interfering with the access of other customers. However, the Comcast issue was considered by many to be a blatant net neutrality issue—blocking access to multimedia from sources other than its own cable sources.

Do you think the actions taken by Comcast were ethical?

Does an ISP have a right to block selected Internet traffic? Why or why not?

Was there a more ethical way Comcast could have handled the problem of some users consuming a higher than normal level of bandwidth?