Thursday, May 18, 2006

Net Neutrality: The Players

Alright, as far as I can tell there are three players involved when it comes to net neutrality.

  1. The government

    Currently being pressured to both make and resist from making rules.

  2. Companies

    In particular I'm talking about companies and coalitions of companies with deep enough pockets to turn the heads of a number of congressmen. Under this heading are the most vocal agents both for and against net neutrality. Within this category I'm going to define two subcategories.


    • Internet Providing Companies

      These are the guys you pay to use the internet at all. Thus included are the network companies like BellSouth and Verizon as well as others.

    • Internet Utilizing Companies

      These are companies whose business is built on using the internet. The heavyweights include Google and Yahoo. But due to the permeating nature of the internet, this category expands outward to online financial services, Frappr, YouTube, or MySpace.


  3. Consumers

    Powerless to have a real voice in the matter, consumers are a vital part of the equation nonetheless in both their number, and the fact that their patronage controls the other two sections


Ok. The next post should either involve dipping into each group's motivation, or I may decide to go ahead and jump into some of the comments and stories one can find online... probably the latter.

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