OT: "network neutrality" and the internet

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 02:17:28PM -0400, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> Quoting Bill Campbell (Wed, 26 Apr 2006 10:41:11 -0700):
> > On Wed, Apr 26, 2006, Kenneth Brody wrote:
> > >There are bills up for vote in the U.S. Congress concerning what is
> > >known as "network neutrality" on the internet.  Basically, "network
> > >neutrality" means that all network traffic is treated equally.  You
> [...]
> [...]
> > My server, my rules.
> 
> But doesn't "common carrier" status mean you have to follow some
> additional, "special" rules?

It would, but Internet backbone carrier are not, in general, Common
Carriers as that term of art is used in the telecom business.

> How would your regular phone service deal with different priorities
> if AT&T could give their traffic higher priority than MCI's calls?

Funny you should mention that:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2003-08-04-mci-probes-self_x.htm

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

     A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
     Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? 
     
     A: Top-posting.
     Q: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet and in e-mail?