Re: [76attendees] A Net Neutrality comment

This seems oddly backwards to me in the context of the net neutrality  
debate. If the question is whether regulation can impose constraints  
on ISPs such that "the ISP should never block or drop anything, or  
engineer its network," the camp _opposed_ to such regulation would  
normally be considered more libertarian, right?

Alissa

On Nov 9, 2009, at 10:00 AM, Ted Lemon wrote:

> I asked Fred privately to clarify what he meant by "militant  
> libertarian," because I have the good fortune to be somewhat naive  
> about this dispute.   I think his reply might be helpful to some  
> other readers, so I'm forwarding it to the list.   FWIW, I happen to  
> agree with Fred on this, now that I understand what he was referring  
> to.
>
> On Nov 9, 2009, at 9:55 AM, Fred Baker wrote:
>> There are at least two belief systems I am commenting on.
>>
>> One is one of the common viewpoints promoted in the Net Neutrality  
>> debate. Two extremes of that debate are perhaps characterized as  
>> "the ISP can whatever it pleases and can block anything it likes at  
>> any time for any reason" and that which I call "militant  
>> libertarian": "the ISP should never block or drop anything, or  
>> engineer its network". On the surface, both are obviously  
>> problematic; yet, I regularly hear proponents of literally those  
>> positions. I would argue that an ISP makes its money by making  
>> guarantees to its customers, and is obligated as a business to  
>> fulfill those guarantees. Among the guarantees an ISP often makes  
>> is that it will block a large percentage of attacks on edge  
>> networks, and that it will deliver certain SLA characteristics such  
>> as one-way delay, throughput rates, and loss levels within its  
>> network. I don't sign contracts that authorize the ISP to comb  
>> through my applications, but I do have legitimate expectations of  
>> my ISP, which means in part that
> it has an obligation to deal appropriately with its other customers.
>>
>> The other viewpoint is that of members of the TCPM community. I am  
>> reminded of a particular comment from Injong Rhee, designer of  
>> Linux CUBIC. I was asking him to play with some ideas I was  
>> proposing in the area of tuning to the knee, and he asked "why in  
>> the world would one tune to the knee?" (my paraphrase of his  
>> remark, which I don't have handy). This is why one tunes to the knee.
>>
>> You may forward this to 76attendees or other lists if you wish. I  
>> am replying to you privately as you commented to me privately. And  
>> yes, the important thing is the belief system, as it is what leads  
>> people in the direction they take.
>
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