[governance] Re: network neutrality and the public internet

[SAMUELS,Carlton A]

Well said!

Carlton

-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Auerbach [mailto:karl at cavebear.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 5:52 AM
To: parminder
Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
Subject: [governance] Re: network neutrality and the public internet


Perhaps I expressed myself imperfectly in my prior note to which you
replied.

My initial purpose when I engaged in this thread was merely to express a
warning that one should not unquestionably accept the phrase "public
internet" as having one and only one meaning; that the expressions of
net neutrality couched in terms of the "public internet" may be more
constrictive than many of us hope.

I remain unconvinced that those who wrote the Google/Verizon statement
were necessarily using that phrase in the broad scope that is often
given to that phrase by some people here.

In my follow-up I noted that the deeper question of who gets the power
to control of the many ways in which the net (or more specifically,
network routers) may handle packets.

Given that I daily deal with the technical nuts-and-bolts of the
internet at the deepest levels I perceive the concrete reality of the
mechanisms used to classify different packets and given them different
queue priorities or send them down different paths.  So I daily face
concrete questions regarding who has the authority to manipulate these
mechanisms.

I recognize, and agree with you, that many of us, particularly many of
us who live in the US, have a strong individualistic point of view.
That is quite true.  It is neither right nor wrong, it simply is.

I suggested in my prior email that the even in highly consensus-driven
social systems we ought to govern the internet in a way that leaves open
the door to be different.

In other words, those who wish to be individualists ought to be able to
use the internet in the way they see fit and not be coerced into
constrained channels.  (Such people may feel social repercussions as a
result of their choice; I'm saying is that there ought to be no *legal*
barrier.)

It was never my intention to suggest that groups of people ought not to
be free to act in concert or to delegate choices as to network
neutrality (or non-neutrality) to larger groups, such as governmental
bodies, unions, or associations.  It is my own feeling that most people
on the internet - users - will chose that course either through explicit
choice or by silently accepting such a regime.

The key, however, is that it be clear that the authority for such
collective action or governance derives from the voluntary, and
alterable, choices of the members, the individuals.

This notion is nothing new - It is the idea underlying many modern
democratic societies.  In the language used in the latter 1700's the
phrase for this was "consent of the governed".

The reason the internet has grown is that it does not (at least until
recently) constrain innovation at the edges.  Groups do not innovate -
rather innovation begins with an act by an individual making a choice to
do something differently than others are doing.

It would be sad if we outlawed innovation on the internet.  And one of
the ways that innovation may occur is when people are given the means to
take control of the ways that their internet packets are handled as
those packets cross all or part of the net.

As usual my touchstone on this is my "First Law of the Internet":

First Law of the Internet
http://www.cavebear.com/cbblog-archives/000059.html

+ Every person shall be free to use the Internet in any way
   that is privately beneficial without being publicly
   detrimental.

    - The burden of demonstrating public detriment shall
      be on those who wish to prevent the private use.

        - Such a demonstration shall require clear and
          convincing evidence of public detriment.

    - The public detriment must be of such degree and extent
      as to justify the suppression of the private activity.

        --karl--
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