[governance] What is Network Neutrality

[Meryem Marzouki]

Le 12 janv. 09 à 17:37, Ralf Bendrath a écrit :

> Meryem Marzouki schrieb:
>> actually, you might yourself legitimize a "double penalty" for  
>> people in
>> developing countries: not only Internet access is more expensive and
>> cumbersome in general, but also, with such caching, there is less
>> capacity of choice between mainstream content (whose provider can  
>> afford
>> expensive caching systems in these countries) and alternative  
>> content,
>> even though provided by the NGO next to your door.
>
> [...]
> (This just for the record and the intellectual fun of this discussion.
> Seriously, I think this edge caching debate is not what really should
> concern us. Anybody should have the right to buy a server and  
> connect it
> to the internet anywhere, provided she can pay for it, right? The only
> issue that could arise here is if an edge caching deal by, say, Google
> would explicitly prohibit the caching / co-locating ISP from  
> entering into
> the same deal with other search engines or content providers. We  
> all agree
> we don't want that, and btw this is also what Lessig has been  
> saying all
> along.)

I would put it in a different way: edge caching is unavoidable, since  
those who can afford it will use it and, on the one hand, no one's  
point here is to bottom out access level, on the other hand, no one  
is arguing that we can reasonably reach a situation where every ISP  
in the world will have it implemented or will have its bandwidth  
extended by any other mean). Edge caching is even desirable, in that  
it provides a better access to *some* content for those accessing it,  
as McTim has shown. Finally, it's true that no one is arguing in  
favor of any exclusionary business practice.
However, all this remains hardly satisfactory to some of us, who  
could hardly let this be described as a situation where "freedom of  
choice is guaranteed". That's the whole point about edge caching in  
this discussion, I think.

That being said, the real discussion is indeed not on edge caching,  
but on a "must (neutrally) carry" obligation, where some action could  
reasonably be carried out. And here, there are greatly diverging  
views on this list, as far as I've understood from the ongoing  
discussion.

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