How Neutral Is The Internet?

Whether the Internet is truly a democratic forum was called into question this week in a dispute about Internet traffic management between AT&T and the consumer advocacy group Free Press.

The feud boiled down to what it means to have "paid prioritization," a phenomenon viewed as anathema by advocates of Internet openness, and to what extent preferential treatment of content already takes place. The issue is at the very heart of a broader debate about what regulatory steps are necessary, if any, to ensure the Internet remains an engine of economic growth and a platform of equal value to people across the socioeconomic spectrum. AT&T, in a letter filed with the Federal Communications Commission, argued that paid prioritization of Internet traffic, contrary to claims made by Free Press, is already a common practice of Web management and consistent with protocols set by the Internet Engineering Task Force. Largely unknown to people outside the technology field, IETF is a professional organization composed of engineers that develop standards for the Internet; for over two decades, it has played an integral role in the management of the Internet.

The current chair of the IETF, Russ Housley, disagrees with AT&T's assessment. "AT&T's characterization is misleading," Housley said. "IETF prioritization technology is geared toward letting network users indicate how they want network providers to handle their traffic, and there is no implication in the IETF about payment based on any prioritization."