{"id":995,"date":"2007-03-27T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-27T07:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=995"},"modified":"2007-03-27T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-27T07:26:00","slug":"electric-networks-and-net-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=995","title":{"rendered":"Electric networks and net neutrality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timwu.org\/network_neutrality.html\">Tim Wu<\/a> of Columbia University compares the internet to the neutrality of electric utility grid. With electricity, he says, you don&#8217;t have to ask the electric company for permission to plug in whatever device you want. It is an interesting metaphor that is worth examining.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at some reasons why I&#8217;m not convinced the metaphor fits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electric networks are generally uni-directional, and certainly not peer-to-peer. Virtually all of us are consumers of electricity, not generators. I suspect that when I choose to install a wind turbine in my backyard and I try to send some of the power over to my friend across town, and only my friend, it will need a little bit of effort from the electrical network. And try to send a bigger chunk of the power to a business colleague around the world &#8211; simultaneously.<\/li>\n<li>There are exceptions to simple plug-and-play electrical power. My electric dryer and my wife&#8217;s ceramics kiln won&#8217;t just plug into the wall. I have an electrician rewire. So much for application independence.<\/li>\n<li>The electric grid sometimes does interfere with my applications. Look at summer brown-outs, smart meters and systems that disable clothes dryers and air conditioners during peak periods. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Electricity is generally a metered service. I wonder how many of the network management challenges of retail internet access are created by the all-you-can-eat flat rate business model. But please don&#8217;t tell me the answer is to change the business model of retail internet sales to pay-as-you-go. If you want to enter the ISP business and offer that model, go ahead. But we don&#8217;t get to make those kinds of business decisions for other people &#8211; specifically ISPs.<\/p>\n<p>Environmental concerns are further leading to an evolution in the electric grid that will challenge its neutrality. Already, people distinguish between essential and unprotected applications: which devices need to be connected to back-up power. If you are in your office, look for the orange electrical outlet.<\/p>\n<p>The near future may see significant changes to the way power is delivered &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.veridian.on.ca\/connections_residential_powerwise_peaksaver_faq.asp\">interruptible power<\/a> to certain demanding appliances &#8211; transforming the application neutrality of the electric grid because we can no longer afford such a luxury. Forcing us to dial down our major electricity consuming appliances sounds similar to traffic shaping those movie and music downloads, doesn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>Still, there is something attractive about network neutrality as a &#8220;network design principle&#8221; as Professor Wu describes. Can there be agreement that not all bits can always be treated the same.<\/p>\n<p>Consumer information may be the best way to manage expectations.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: rgb(51, 204, 0);font-size:78%;\">Technorati Tags:<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tag\/Tim+Wu\" rel=\"tag\">Tim Wu<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tag\/electric+grid\" rel=\"tag\">electric grid<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tag\/net+neutrality\" rel=\"tag\">net neutrality<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Wu of Columbia University compares the internet to the neutrality of electric utility grid. With electricity, he says, you don&#8217;t have to ask the electric company for permission to plug in whatever device you want. It is an interesting metaphor that is worth examining. Let&#8217;s look at some reasons why I&#8217;m not convinced the &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=995\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Electric networks and net neutrality<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Electric networks and net neutrality &#8226; Telecom Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tim Wu of Columbia University compares the internet to the neutrality of electric utility grid. 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