Net Neutrality and Connected Graphs
What is the internet, in particular, the world wide web, and how should it be regulated–if at all? One topic that has been getting much attention lately is net neutrality. In particular, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commision, Tom Wheeler brings up a plan in which online media companies such as Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu could essentially pay cable companies in order to receive “premium” streaming of content. In this case, the result would most likely be the creation of a “two-tier Internet,” in which certain users and media distributors would be divided. Larger companies would inherently have a lead over smaller ones in regards to online presence as media would stream and download more slowly for those not able to “pay for the fast lane.” Many say that this would create a disruption in what they call the “open internet” and would essentially block out many smaller web sites and online media sources.
A indirect result of this proposal would be the degraded service of those other services not
included in the “fast lane.” For example, web pages that would take longer to load typically do not enjoy as many users as they would otherwise. As a result, users demanding content would look elsewhere to consume information and other media. Furthermore, a potential result of the proposal would be the increase in costs to consumers paying for internet services, such as Netflix. The general prediction is that these companies would be forced to push its additional costs onto consumers and thus increase the price of subscriptions and services. In addition, a decrease in innovation comes to mind, as new startups and services may not have the ability to flourish due to a new lack in visibility.
In terms of as a network as a whole, the world wide web would be quite drastically changed.
No longer would it be a network of nodes and equally-weighted nodes, but rather a cluster of user, ISP, and service nodes that are dictated by premiums paid and throttled bandwidth. Of course the graph would still be connected theoretically, but without net neutrality, users would be greatly discouraged from using those services not using the “fast lane”. Bigger services–in this case, the larger nodes–would have shorter distances to user nodes, and as such, the flow of information and data would be severely limited.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/technology/a-deluge-of-comment-on-net-rules.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/major-ways-internet-change-net-neutrality/story?id=21541399