Net Neutrality
and News
Week Nine

What is
Net Neutrality?
And, what does Nemo have to do with it?

Net
Neutrality
Isn’t New
It was a problem
for telegraph
companies

Net
Neutrality
Isn’t New
It was a problem
for telephone
companies

Now, it’s our problem.
And here’s what the
problem is.

typical e-mail

The Internet was
supposed to be dumb.
It was meant to be content,
application and origin agnostic.

The Internet was
supposed to be dumb
All traffic was equal

This was the principle of
Common Carriage
as if the Internet were a
public utility

Telcos want to
change that
Competitors and Telcos and partners
alternative voices

Telcos want to
change that
P2P traffic Non-P2P or
non-telco VOIP telco VOIP

This is where Nemo
comes in
A clear pipe from the dentist’s
office to Sydney Harbour

Telcos want to
play traffic cop
Content telco partners Content telco partners
don’t like approve of or sell

Alternative Voices on Tight Budgets
Content telco partners approve of or sell

Telcos want to
create a
tiered internet

It happened
to ham radio
operators
and it’s starting
to happen
now.

Examples
• 2005 - Telus blocks union site during strike
• 2006 - AOL blocks anti-AOL website
• 2006 - Cox Cable blocks craigslist
• 2007 - Verizon blocks text messages from pro-
choice group
• 2007 - Comcast throttles BitTorrent traffic
• 2008 - Rogers and Bell throttle bandwidth

Why Does it Matter
for News?
• Reduces diversity of voices
• Accelerates concentration of media ownership
• Links media, industry and government
• Turns a public utility into a corporate
playground
• Harms democracy
• Stifles innovation

What’s Being Done?
• SaveOurNet.org
• moveon.org
• Michael Geist
• CAIP
• Charlie Angus, NDP

Steve Anderson
SaveOurNet.ca

Thank you for
your kind attention