Gongol.com > Radio > Show Notes > July 26, 2014

Wise Guys on WHO Radio - July 26, 2014

Brian Gongol



Please note: These show notes may be in various stages of completion -- ranging from brainstormed notes through to well-polished monologues. Please excuse anything that may seem rough around the edges, as it may only be a first draft of a thought and not be fully representative of what was said on the air.

Net neutrality

Strong, emotional arguments can be made to preserve "net neutrality" (basically, treating data on the Internet like telephone calls or freight on the railroads -- common-carrier access). John Oliver made a clever (and a bit profane) argument in favor of neutrality. The FCC is accepting public comments.

	Pro-neutrality (regulate as a "common carrier")	Anti-neutrality (regard as an "information service")	Informative
Arguments	Internet traffic most closely resembles telephone, water, or electrical service as a public utility Most Americans have access to only one or two broadband service providers, so under a monopoly/duopoly arrangement, they do not have the luxury of a competitive marketplace for faster or slower service as they choose Imposing a common-carrier style of regulation may improve consumer access to privacy protections A pro-neutrality policy may encourage greater competition for service Without protection for equal access to broadband, ISPs might stifle innovations from startup firms to protect incumbents with deeper pockets who may be able to pay for preferential high speeds	Traffic to high-bandwidth services like Netflix slows down traffic to other users and should be charged accordingly Customers may actually desire the ability to manage speeds on some traffic within their own "last-mile" connections to the Internet, so that phone calls take priority over video streams, for instance Introducing FCC oversight to enforce neutrality may also open the door to FCC regulation of Internet content The increased regulation that would accompany common-carrier rules might stifle exactly the innovations that would result in higher speeds for most users	Wireless broadband access may introduce a new wrinkle, since spectrum is limited and is in very high demand
Parties	Netflix Electronic Frontier Foundation	Lariat.net (Wyoming ISP)	Informative

This week

• The American Solar Challenge is passing through Ames this afternoon. It's a multi-day, 1200+ mile road rally in which collegiate teams compete to drive powered only by the sun. The chances of consumer-grade vehicles powered by solar panels making their way to the market someday are probably indistinguishable from zero, but it's good to have mind-stretching competitions like this available to that young engineers and scientists can get their hands dirty and consider ways in which solar power might be more effectively collected, stored, and used.

Listen again (in case you missed it)

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Gongol.com -- posted 2014