And, that meant a lot of brain power in today’s net neutrality discussion at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
This event wasn’t about politics – it was about where policy and technological expertise intertwine – often missing in this discussion. We heard about cyclades, horizontal layering, RFCs and the panelists took a deep dive into how the Internet works.
The very bright and engaging panelists made an informed pitch on how the internet is an ever-changing medium. While the focal point of the dialogue was on Richard Bennett’s recent report, Designed for Change: End-to-End Arguments, Internet Innovation, and the Net Neutrality Debate , which Christopher Yoo says “brings engineering into the end-to-end (E2E) discussion,” each warned that technology demanded a light regulatory approach, offering caution as to the effects of “net neutrality”. Rob Atkinson, president and founder of ITIF, added he believes that the FCC should use a scalpel – not a sledge hammer – when creating a regulatory framework around the Internet. (You can see more of his views by catching our interview with him below.) Yoo said the last thing the internet needs is a regulatory framework that says “do it this way or that way.” (Our intriguing interview with Mr. Yoo is also below.) Cecilia Kang from the Washington Post titled her blog post on the event “Computer Science Professor, Former FCC Official Warns Against Net Neutrality.”
A common theme was that net-neutrality regulatory proponents seek to preserve the Internet as we know it, yet fail to understand it from an engineering perspective. The internet is dynamic – it has continued to change, grow and evolve and with new innovations and apps coming online almost every day, as Richard Bennett said. “leave the INNOVATION GENIE ON!!”
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September 29th, 2009 at 9:37 am
[...] engineers, including David Farber—the “grandfather of the Internet”—speaking out to express grave concerns from the network engineering community about a growing government role in the day-to-day operations of the high-speed [...]