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Robert Kahn speaks out against ‘Net Neutrality’

Interesting article in The Register:

Father of internet warns against Net Neutrality

No Kahn do

By Andrew Orlowski

Published Thursday 18th January 2007 21:19 GMT

Robert Kahn, the most senior figure in the development of the internet, has delivered a strong warning against “Net Neutrality” legislation.

Speaking to an audience at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California at an event held in his honour, Kahn warned against legislation that inhibited experimentation and innovation where it was needed.

Kahn rejected the term “Net Neutrality”, calling it “a slogan”. He cautioned against dogmatic views of network architecture, saying the need for experimentation at the edges shouldn’t come at the expense of improvements elsewhere in the network.

(Kahn gently reminded his audience that the internet was really about interconnecting networks, a point often lost today).

“If the goal is to encourage people to build new capabilities, then the party that takes the lead is probably only going to have it on their net to start with and it’s not going to be on anyone else’s net. You want to incentivize people to innovate, and they’re going to innovate on their own nets or a few other nets,”

“I am totally opposed to mandating that nothing interesting can happen inside the net,” he said.

So called “Neutrality” legislation posed more of a danger than fragmentation, he concluded.

With the exception of Google’s man in Washington DC, Vint Cerf (with whom Kahn developed TCP/IP), most of the senior engineers responsible for developing the packet switched internetworking of today oppose “Neutrality” legislation. Dave Farber, often called the grandfather of the internet, has been the most prominent critic…

Network Neutrality FAQ
Father of internet warns against Net Neutrality
Dave Farber’s Common Sense about Network Neutrality
Net Neutrality (or Back to the Future) Mark Lloyd — Center for American Progress
Net Neutrality Advocates Face Off by Wayne Rash — Eweek.com
Bob Kahn (wikipedia)
Original thread trackback to http://RonSuarez.com/: Cable Bill Threatens Community Access and Leaves Out Net Neutrality

Copyright © 2007 Henry Edward Hardy

24 January, 2007 - Posted by scanlyze | internet, net neutrality, Robert Kahn, scanlyze