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Government Internet plans could end in tiers
The introduction of a tiered Internet is not a new
idea, but the debate has heated up recently, with
the government looking to move forward despite
resistance from net neutrality campaigners. |
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UK web users could soon experience a tiered Internet
system, if government proposals are approved. Under
the plans, content providers could be charged
different prices according to download speeds and
users would need to pay more for high speed delivery
of content such as videos.
Pile up on the information freeway
In a round table discussion regarding
the management of web traffic, officials from the
Department for Culture, Media and Sports have told
mobile operators, broadcasters, IT content writing
providers and ISPs that net neutrality - which
ensures all Internet services are given the same
right to bandwidth and therefore quality - is not
right for Britain. Communications Minister, Ed
Vaizey, who led the conference, reasoned that
“Internet traffic is growing. Handling that heavier
traffic will become an increasingly significant
issue”.
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The government believes ISPs should be free
to develop their own self-regulation code of
conduct. This is likely to mean a closer
management of service providers who use
higher speeds, like YouTube and BBC iPlayer
and that faster broadband speeds would be
given to companies who pay more, hence a
tiered Internet.
Naturally, prominent
entertainment and media providers are
supporting this view. BT, Virgin Media and
Sky are said to be formulating plans for a
‘two-speed highway’ already. |
"People should be able to access the
Internet without the blocking or throttling
of certain content due to commercial
rivalry.”
John Tate
Director of Policy and
Strategy, BBC |
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Internet access a "human right"
However, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the
Internet, has opposed the idea, emphasising
that neutrality was essential for best
practice. “Every customer should be able to
access every service, and every service
should be able to access every customer.”
Delivering his keynote speech at
international World Wide Web Conference last
month, he deemed the right to Internet a
“human right”.
Berners-Lee has
proposed three best practice aims: “The
first is that users should be able to access
all legal content. Secondly, there should be
no discrimination against content providers
on the basis of commercial rivalry. And
finally, traffic management policies should
be clear and transparent.”
This
sentiment was echoed by John Tate, Director
of Policy and Strategy for the BCC. “People
should be able to access the Internet
without the blocking or throttling of
certain content due to commercial rivalry”
he argued. And with civil rights groups and
communication rights activists fighting the
corner for net neutrality, issues have been
raised such as a democratic right of freedom
of access to information.
Life in the fast lane?
According to a study published last December
by Ben Hermalin, an Economics professor at
the University of California, Berkeley’s
Haas School of Business, and Nicholas
Econimides of New York University’s Stern
School of Business, the introduction of a
two-tiered system could well, in fact,
negate its purpose. The co-authors argue
that by tiering the Internet into two
‘lanes’, the result would be that the ‘fast
lane’ would of course be the more desirable
and therefore attract more traffic -
ultimately leading to congestion and
defeating the point entirely. Their research
concludes that, in their opinion, “The
current policy of network neutrality is
probably the best for the economy”.
The debate continues.
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