A Case for Net Neutrality

The 26th of February 2015 was an important day for the American Internet: In a remarkable vote, the FCC [1] decided that access to the internet is to be treated the same way as access to the phone network. This means that service providers such as Verizon and Comcast, just to name some of the most prominent ones, are not allowed to offer so-called Fast Lanes. The idea behind those Fast Lanes would have been the following: Company A could buy one such Fast Lane at the provider’s. Company B, however, doesn’t, either willingly or because of the lack of funds. Now, if a user wants to access the websites and services of the two companies, the user would get a significantly faster connection to Company A than he would get when connecting to Company B. This would happen independently of his own internet connection.This paper was written in 2015 as part of a research project at scip AG, Switzerland. It was initially published online at https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20150312 and is available in English and German. Providing our clients with innovative research for the information technology of the future is an essential part of our company culture