I have commented on the topic of “net neutrality” several times. A recent post by David Warlick brings this topic up again and brought my attention to a Bill Moyer’s “Moyers on America” special “The Net@Risk“. This special covers related topics that concern the significance of an independent Internet and how equitable access and neutrality are being threatened.
The program is essentially about the telecoms’ interest in and lobbying for control of the Internet, and their apparent lack of interest inactually improving the Internet, to keep us in line with the serviceand cost enjoyed by many other industrial countries around the world. (Warlick)
The online video from the Moyers site and the Warlick post (summarizing a Learning and Leading article by Anita McAnear) are both informative and alarming.
The Moyer’s piece mentions of the work of North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan in attempting to bring attention to the issue of net neutrality. Perhaps because I work in North Dakota I have thought about why this issue would be something Senator Dorgan would take on as a cause. One explanation that occurs to me is that in very rural states citizens often have few options for high speed access and may be lucky if they have one option. One of factors that works against the abuse of ownership of the access point is the option of users to switch to another provider. When that option is not there, users are more vulnerable to whatever decisions the provider makes.
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