Net Neutrality: The Simple View

The FCC was, is and always will be a highly political entity. It, in my opinion, will follow what the strongest winds of politics are at the moment. Having said this, one looks at the current Chairman's alleged proposal for Net Neutrality and in my opinion it appears to have been crafted by Comcast. I do not have any details, but in my experience with them, it smells that way.

Let us examine how the Internet works (see my paper on Net Neutrality).

1, There is a user and a provider. That is to say me and Netflix.

2. I pay my cable company to connect on either transmit or receive to and through them to an interconnection point in the Internet backbone. Not the cable provider's necessarily.

3. Netflix pays a similar backbone provider to connect from their servers to the backbone.

Thus there is a "long-distance" provider, say Level 3, and a local provider say Comcast.

Now Netflix pays Level 3 and I pay, in my case, Cablevision.

Now along comes Comcast and says they they will open my packets, my mail if you will, and if my mail comes from the wrong person they will delay it or charge me more. After all as the customer I pay no matter what.

Net Neutrality means one simple thing; all packets are equal and the cable guy, say Comcast, must not read my mail! After all they are not the NSA, yet they may be helping. But alas that is another story, I hope.

Thus Net Neutrality means that Netflix negotiates with Level 3 and I with my cable company. Period. And Comcast should not read my mail and interfere with my messages.

But don't count on that! Not with the folks we sent to DC this time!