[FC-discuss] Should the World Bank care about net neutrality?

[Kevin Donovan]

Be sure to chime in with your thoughts.

Sent to you by Kevin Donovan via Google Reader: Should the World Bank
care about net neutrality? via Inside the Web - The intersection of the
web and the World Bank. by Sameer Vasta on 8/13/09

Net neutrality is a hot topic right now in various countries around the
world, with the debate over its value and its feasability being tied to
discussions about broadband penetration and service delivery over the
internet.

For a quick definition of the concept, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

A neutral broadband network is one that is free of restrictions on
content, sites, or platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be
attached, and on the modes of communication allowed, as well as one
where communication is not unreasonably degraded by other communication
streams.

In essence, net neutrality advocates argue that internet service
providers (ISPs) should not be able to discriminate against certain
kinds of internet transfers and lower quality of service or access
based on that discrimination. The concept of net neutrality says that
ISPs don't have the right to restrict access or limit traffic or speeds
to certain kinds of sites or certain types of activity — in the end,
the user should be in charge of what they do once they have paid to
access the network.



Seems like a no-brainer issue to most, but that hasn't stopped hot
debates around the world about the power of ISPs to control the content
that their customers can access, and why they should or shouldn't be
allowed to exercise that power.

My question today: should the World Bank care?

The World Bank's recent IC4D 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing
Impact report found that access to high quality mobile phone and
internet services enabled development across all levels of the economy.
It also claimed that access to broadband completed the information
foundation for a modern economy and called for this access to be a
priority in national development plans.

If good and widespread internet access is so integral to economic
growth and development, does the Bank have a responsibility to ensure
that this access is open, unfiltered, unshaped, and not throttled by
ISPs? What is the risk in allowing traffic shaping to occur in
developing economies?

All questions I don't have answers to, but that have been weighing on
my mind for quite some time. If you have any ideas about net neutrality
and the role that the Bank may have in the debate, let me know in the
comments below.

For more information, check out the Wikipedia article on net
neutrality, the FAQs on SaveTheInternet.com, and a multitude of other
places around the web that have chimed in on the topic.

(Photo by Don Solo.)

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