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November 09, 2007, 02:02 PM ET
Computer Scientists Form 'Network Neutrality Squad'
A group of technology experts, some with ties to academe, has formed a Network Neutrality Squad to ferret out, analyze, and report discriminatory behavior by telecommunications companies. The group is also hoping to deter companies that might consider blocking or manipulating Internet traffic to favor preferred customers or affiliated entities.
In a recent online message, the group said it was enlisting all Internet users to join the effort.
“Working together, we can help to keep the Internet an incredibly useful resource for everyone around the globe, unhampered by any efforts to skew its enormous capabilities in ways that could hinder the many while benefiting the relative few,” the message read in part.
Signatories to the message included Vinton G. Cerf, the Internet-protocol pioneer who is Google’s “chief Internet evangelist”; David J. Farber, a professor of computer science and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University; and Peter G. Neumann, a computer scientist with SRI International Computer Science Laboratory, a nonprofit research institute.
Meanwhile, legislation in Congress pushed by advocates of network neutrality — including several higher-education groups — continues to stall. And Kenneth D. Salomon, a Washington lawyer who represents many educational institutions, told a group of college lawyers today that he doesn’t see the bill passing, at least in this session of Congress. He opposes the legislation. How can colleges tell telecommunications companies that they shouldn’t manipulate Web traffic, he asked, when college technology officials themselves manipulate bandwidth? —Andrea L. Foster
Categories: Company-Watch
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