Net Neutrality Summary for Congress

John Mitchell has produced a wonderful summary for Congressional staff of the proposed legislative approach to net neutrality at DPS Project. (Click here for the proposed "Internet Platform for Innovation Act of 2006")

the Internet is, in fact, neutral. Neither slick promotions offering "premium" or "exclusive" services, nor thoughtful legislation, can change that. Any service offered by one of the many networks that form a part of the "network of networks" called "the Internet" which favors the delivery of some data packets over others based on their content, source or destination, is simply not "the Internet." To pass off access to specially modified networks as "Internet access" is false and deceptive. In over thirty years of global standards and Internet service provider behavior, Internet participants have come to assume that their traffic will be passed without interference. Because the global "Internet Protocols" of the Internet are based on this concept, neutrality is inherent in it.