Net Neutrality

Net neutrality might be a bit of a touchy subject in the United States, but progress is being made in Europe. The Netherlands has become the first country to enact net neutrality laws, preventing ISPs from blocking or slowing down different types of internet traffic. It also stops ISPs from charging extra to access specific websites or services. The legislation was first put forward in June 2011, but just passed into law on Tuesday.

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Comcast has already taken some heat over its Xfinity streaming media service, which offers up movies and TV shows to Xbox 360 users without eating into the ISP’s 250GB data cap. At the time, Comcast say that they weren’t violating any net neutrality rules, claiming that the Xbox 360 streaming didn’t travel over the public internet. CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, doesn’t think too highly of Comcast’s move, and has criticized the ISP over the issue.

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After coming under fire for its Xbox Live streaming service, which apparently tapped into a private IP network, because of potential net neutrality issues. Critics slammed the service because in the Xbox Live FAQ, Comcast said its content was "being delivered over our private IP network and not the public Internet." That raised concerns that Comcast was not playing by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

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Comcast announced their Xfinity streaming app for the Xbox 360 not long ago, allowing you to stream content from Comcast for free as part of your internet and TV package. The company also said that whatever you stream to your XBox 360 won’t count towards the 250GB data cap. Good news for customers planning to make use of the service, but what about the deeper implications to net neutrality?

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UK communications regulator Ofcom has threatened ISPs with stricter net neutrality rules if they do not improve the way bandwidth shaping policies and traffic management are explained to users, warning that "it is important that we are able to understand how our access might be restricted." While the organization concedes that ISPs do go some way in communicating what limits are placed on broadband access - such as P2P throttling at "peak" times of the day - it argues the current explanations are only of real use "to technically savvy consumers" and greater work needs to be done on broadening understanding.

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The Federal Communications Commission will be publishing the net neutrality rules tomorrow, which will take effect starting November 20. The new rules barely passed last December with a 3-2 party-line vote, but have not taken effect yet largely due to continued opposition and the FCC dragging its feet on publishing them to the Federal Register.

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Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the web, has called for more regulation to preserve the principle of net neutrality, the concept that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. He has called upon service providers to self-regulate, but failing that he said governments must act. He is working with the UK government to negotiate an agreement on an open internet with service providers and content firms.

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Net neutrality has suffered a new blow, with the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology rejecting the FCC's open-internet regulations. According to the WSJ, a 15-8 partisan vote saw House Republicans send the proposals back to the full Energy and Commerce Committee, arguing that the FCC lacked the statutory authority under the Telecommunications Act to implement the rules.

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The issue of net neutrality has been one to cause some to get heated under the collar, and after the FCC ruled in favor of the new rules, several higher-ups in pertinent companies, like Verizon, sent out their own comments about the upcoming regulations and rules. If you'll recall, Verizon's been pretty open about their overall disapproval of the new rules, and now Verizon is taking it one step further by heading to court to challenge the new rules.

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Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has taken time out from pleading for cash in banner ads at the online encyclopedia to criticize app stores, suggesting that they represent a potential "chokepoint that is very dangerous." Speaking in a personal capacity at a UK event this week, according to Tech.Blorge, Wales struck out at closed app market models that could present "a threat to a diverse and open ecosystem."

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Google's potential carrier ambitions are again being raked over, with suggestions that underwhelming net neutrality rulings, the failure of the Nexus One sales experiment to marginalize carrier control, and growing use of Google Voice are all signs that the search giant might cut out the middle man and run its own network. CNN Money reckons that Google's intentions are most clearly telegraphed in a September 2010 SEC filing by the company, in which they voice concerns that net neutrality regulations could allow carriers to "degrade, disrupt, or increase the cost of user access" to Google products and services.

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Behold! As Verizon confirms plans for a Motorola LTE device in 2011! Behold! As we're sent mysterious images of what might be the HTC Incredible HD, aka HTC Mecha, aka a 4G LTE device! Marvel! As Microsoft is tipped to be announcing ARM chip compatibility in a new version of Windows OS at the beginning of 2011. Marvel! As the iPad is praised at a surrogate for Jesus Christ. Rally! As voices from across the internet speak up for and against the FCC Net Neutrality Vote today. Rally! As Motorola sets a countdown until its brand new tablet is revealed at CES. Know the truth! With Chris as he columns about how Tegra 2 Isn’t Enough. Know the truth! By checking out the FULL LIST of WINNERS from our SlashGear / Android Community Google Cr-48 Giveaway - it might be you! And finally check out with great interest Vince's full Google Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook review!

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