[]1So, an
interesting question around the [net neutrality]2 principle. Net
neutrality is basically the principle that it should not be legal to
differentially charge/discount/throttle/fast-lane for web access
dependent on the content being delivered. So in practice, this principle
is broken where service ‘a’ (Netflix say) is delivered to the user
faster than service ‘b’ (Notflix say) because Netflix and the ISP have a
deal. It would also be broken where access to ‘a’ is delivered at a
cheaper rate than ‘b’. This is a problem because it privileges access,
and breaks the ‘neutrality’ of the web. The most prominent example in
OER is the incredible [Wikipedia Zero]3 project, giving free
access to the content of (but not editing on, I think) Wikipedia. So
here’re some questions, aside from the fact this (I think) only gives
access but not editing access (so no Open Educational Practices for
me please): 1. Is this a compromise we’re willing to make? 2. Is this
different from the commercial cases? 3. Does ‘net neutrality’ need a
more nuanced definition to deal with this case? Some good links on
this below (bold are key) 1.
[https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor/Net_Neutrality]4
2. **** 3. **** 4. **** 5. 6. 7.
Footnotes
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/static/2014/05/wikipedia_globe_in_a_keychain.jpg ↩
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https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor/Net_Neutrality ↩