Just as we are beginning to see the power that free resources produce, changes in the architecture of the Internet--both legal and technical--are sapping the Internet of this power. Fueled by bias in favor of control, pushed by those whose financial interest favor control, our social and political institutions are ratifying changes in the Internet that will reestablish control, in turn, reduce innovation on the Internet and in society generally.
This morning we talked about the latest in developments regarding Net Neutrality. If you're not sure what that is, here's the Wikipedia explanation of it:
Net neutrality (also network neutrality or Internet neutrality) is the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication. The term was coined by Columbia media law professor Tim Wu in 2003 as an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier.[1][2][3][4] Proponents often see net neutrality as an important component of an open internet, where policies such as equal treatment of data and open web standards allow those on the internet to easily communicate and conduct business without interference from a third party.[5] A "closed internet" refers to the opposite situation, in which established corporations or governments favor certain uses. A closed internet may have restricted access to necessary web standards, artificially degrade some services, or explicitly filter out content.
Unfortunately, there are things being presented higher up on the totem pole that serves to end Net Neutrality as we have come to know it. We discussed this with a few listeners.
We also talked about capping of internet bandwidth, and the problem this presents when faced with the future of gaming, which looks to be going completely digital.
[Something we didn't quite get to is the Atari Landfill Excavation, which started today (and we wrote about for our Tuesday Trivia). As of this writing, they've found the games.]
