Net+Neutrality

=**Topic:** Net Neutrality=

__**Description:**__
'Net Neutrality' (or Network Neutrality) is the protection of our rights in America to ensure that we can control what we want to see, and what applications we use through the backbones of our Internet. In another sense, it is to ensure that we have equal access to any one resource. This neutrality has existed since the beginnings of the Internet. Broadband carriers are currently trying to undermine this neutrality by controlling what sort of data gets sent the fastest, placing certain content with higher priority. This not only affects which resources you can access, but also will staunch growth of new services. Even //Google// started out small; imagine what would have happened if it took thirty seconds longer to access the page, compared to other services like //Yahoo!.// Net Neutrality is currently a hot debate in our Senate, as they continue to make and alter laws involving telecommunications. Even now companies are starting to do things that are against our best efforts to save Net Neutrality, such as //Comcast// blocking peer-to-peer file sharing, or even //Verizon// screening certain text messages. These monsters are lobbying in Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to monopolize the Internet. This is a true threat to the Internet. For instance they tried to implement the act of Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement Act or COPE where they spent $175 million using all kind of tactics, such as fake grassroots groups or giving campaign contributions. However it did not pass largely because the people wrote Congress and stood up for the free internet. The new Congress we have now is for net neutrality “In the House, Rep. Ed Markey -- who championed a Net Neutrality bill in 2006 -- is the new chairman of the key committee shaping new legislation. In the Senate, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have introduced a bipartisan measure, the 'Internet Freedom Preservation Act' they will help provide meaningful protection for Net Neutrality.”(Save the Web) Net Neutrality is the backbone of why the Internet has economic innovation. It helps to protect the consumer's right to use any of the equipment, content, application or service freely without interference from a network provider. With Net Neutrality, the network's only job is to move data nothing else.

__**Applications:**__
For applications of use in net neutrality, an example would be net neutrality making it possible to start a new web based business, and getting the same traffic capacities as //Yahoo!// without having to pay large communication companies for equal access. Net neutrality has the potential to stop these restrictions.

__**Web Resources:**__
[|Common Cause] [|We Are The Web] [|Stop Big Media] [|Save The Internet] [|Open Internet Coalition] [|Wikipedia: Network Neutrality]

HR 5252: Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 -
The Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 was a large telecom bill designed to update US laws to address changes in voice, video and data services. The bill, authored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, would have allowed the phone companies to enter the broadband market nationally without getting approval from local areas.The COPE Act would have streamlined the process for phone and cable companies to offer TV, voice and Internet services in areas across the country. It involved rules for network neutrality, municipal broadband, and emergency 911 services on Internet telephone (VoIP) services.

Traffic Contract -
An agreement between a customer and network provider that stipulates a certain type of channel allotted to the customer. It may also guarantee a minimum amount of bandwidth as well as quality of service (QoS) parameters such as a guaranteed maximum delay between packets.[1][2]

Traffic Policing -
Managing a traffic flow in order to comply with a traffic contract. It typically deals with eliminating (dropping) bursts of traffic.[1][2]

Traffic Shaping -
Using methods to keep traffic flowing smoothly in a network. Although the term is often used synonymously with "traffic engineering," traffic shaping deals with managing the network moment to moment, whereas traffic engineering refers to the overall strategies employed in a network. Typically deployed at the edge of the network, traffic shaping may be used to limit bursty traffic in general or to limit undesired traffic such as spam or peer-to-peer downloads (generally by applying a delay to the traffic).[1][2]

__**Citations/References:**__
1.[|PC Magazine - Encyclopedia] 2.[|TechWeb: TechEncyclopedia] 3.http://www.slowpokecomics.com/ 4.http://www.freepress.net/congress/billinfo.php?id=169

**__Graphics:__**
Save The Internet media type="youtube" key="cWt0XUocViE&rel=1" height="355" width="425"

__**Protect Your Rights**:__
Be proactive when it comes to your internet rights. There simply should not be interference with online information, without the owners permission. Take immediate action. Preserve online freedom by filing your complaint to the FCC now!

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