Professional Reading: Felten's Nuts and Bolts of Network Neutrality

Princeton IT Prof Edward Felten has posted a 10-page paper called Nuts and Bolts of Network Neutrality. The paper is a primer on the technical details surrounding this issue with a short policy recommendation at the end. Professor Felten explains his motivation for writing this paper:

One of the reasons the network neutrality debate is so murky is that relatively few people understand the mechanics of network discrimination. In reasoning about net neutrality it helps to understand the technical motivations for discrimination, the various kinds of discrimination and how they would actually be put into practice, and what countermeasures would then be available to users and regulators.

Professor Felten, who is author of the very popular blog Freedom to Tinker, recommends the following:

There is a good policy argument in favor of doing nothing and letting the situation develop further. The present situation, with the network neutrality issue on the table in Washington but no rules yet adopted, is in many ways ideal. ISPs, knowing that discriminating now would make regulation seem more necessary, are on their best behavior; and with no rules yet adopted we don’t have to face the difficult issues of line-drawing and enforcement. Enacting strong regulation now would risk side-effects, and passing toothless regulation now would remove the threat of regulation. If it is possible to maintain the threat of regulation while leaving the issue unresolved, time will teach us more about what regulation, if any, is needed.

JH