Net Neutrality

An area of interest for me and of particular importance to the Berkman Center is the debate on net neutrality. In essence, net neutrality supports equal access for all people, to all online content. The debate changes flavor based on numerous factors, including geography.

For example, in China, the debate takes on the tone of free speech and censorship. Can/should the government limit access to certain content? How does that decision affect the rest of the world, if at all? In the United States, the discussion sounds more economic in nature, focusing on whether or not Internet service providers should be allowed to charge customers extra for accessing certain content. For example, can a provider force customers to pay twice as much if they want to access social media? What affect will that have on the development of the Internet among certain less privileged groups? What about on the way social media are used?

The concept really crosses all platforms at the Berkman Center, from legal issues about the power of the FCC over the Internet, to the effect on journalists trying to expand online through social media, to sociological effects of limiting access to certain groups of people. So, you could say the topic interests all of us here at the Berkman Center and doesn't fit neatly into any one project.

I e-mailed Professor Jonathan Zittrain about net neutrality several weeks ago, commenting that the original model of the Internet he presented to us—a group of providers all providing propietary services, such as CompuServe and AOL—greatly resembled the discussion today regarding net neutrality. The Internet eventually moved from a jumble of propietary services to a group of networked users all using cross-platform services—but if American providers have their way, I foresee we could end up back to the paleolithic days of the Internet when only select users accessed certain services. Prof. Zittrain suggested if there was interest, we could try a discussion group among the Berkterns.

Sidenote: Zittrain is a professor of Law, Computer Science, and Public Policy—all at the same time, all at Harvard. He co-founded the Berkman Center, has been a visiting professor at Oxford and Stanford, and serves on the Internet Society's Board of Trustees. And I know few professors more down to earth and easy to like than him. Yeah. Feel inadequate yet?

Anywho, I sent out emails to our listserve asking if there would be interest in that, and got an absolutely overwhelming response (at least 10 people responded in less than an hour). After some discussion amongst ourselves, we decided that there would be plenty of interest in meeting repeatedly on this very issue. One intern even started proposing articles on this topic we can all read together, so we have the first article already picked. I'll also be reserving a conference room for us and inviting Berkman Center faculty to join us.

I was told in the beginning that this internship would be what you made of it. You could say I'm taking that to heart.