[ NNSquad ] Re: Net Neutrality Paper: "AT&T vs. Google"

[Brett Glass <nnsquad@brettglass.com>]

At 02:56 PM 1/9/2008, Lauren Weinstein wrote:

> Andrew Odlyzko at University of Minnesota has just released an
> interesting network neutrality paper partially funded by NSF:
>
> "Network neutrality, search neutrality, and the never-ending conflict
>  between efficiency and fairness in markets":
>
> http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/net.neutrality.pdf

Mr. Odlyzko's paper is interesting, but misses the controversy 
which is brunt of the present discussion and also of a purported 
FCC investigation mentioned by FCC Chairman Martin in a speech at 
CES. (That Martin would launch an assault on a cable provider is 
not surprising, given his many recent moves which grant favors to 
the ILECs and seem to be intended to give them a leg up on the cable industry.)

Mr. Odlyzko writes:

"Service providers argue that they can finance the buildout of 
broadband networks only by charging extra fees to parties such as Google."

In fact, it is generally agreed -- even by most ISPs -- that such 
fines are beyond the pale. Mr. Odlyzko glosses over the far more 
important issue of P2P abuse (and, yes, it is abuse, as it violates 
the ISP's terms of service and takes its bandwidth for the benefit 
of third parties) and the impact that it is having on both 
providers' ability to break even and the quality of service that users receive.

--Brett Glass