To say that Vinton Cerf has been involved with the Internet since its genesis would be a gross understatement. Cerf was integral to designing the architecture of the Internet and co-founder of the Internet Society (ISOC), a nonprofit dedicated to Internet standards, education and policy (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/). Regarded as a “Father of the Internet” for his work on its basic protocols (TCP/IP) and presently Google’s Vice President and “Chief Internet Evangelist,” Cerf is outspoken in favor of a non-discriminatory Internet.
I recently conducted an email interview with Cerf who reined in and made plain a concept that is often exaggerated and skewed by divergent interests in the debate over network neutrality.
When portraying a debate, the media often pervert and simplify an entire spectrum of opinion into two camps representing polar opposites. Net neutrality is no exception. There are many different perspectives on the issue of net neutrality, yet coverage of dialogue in the mainstream insists on two parties, pitted against each other with passion and exaggeration on both sides.
Cerf on the Net Neutrality Debate
“The term “net neutrality” has been badly distorted by the hyperbole and headlines around the debate on this topic,” Cerf said. “All that we are seeking is non-discrimination in access to the services of the Internet for all users of the Internet and non-discrimination in the ability of any service on the Internet to reach any interested user.”
In addition to supplying a relatively straightforward account of the issue, Cerf clarified what is not included in his and Google’s conception of net neutrality:
We are NOT claiming that every packet has to be treated identically (we understand about denial of service attacks, spam, viruses, etc). We are NOT arguing that ISPs should charge the same to every user, regardless of his or her speed of access to the Internet. We are NOT arguing that there cannot be differentiation of service levels – only that the providers of broadband access to the Internet should not abuse their provision of basic Internet transport to discriminate against services that compete with theirs at higher levels of protocol (e.g. video transport).
Cerf explained that “[e]very user benefits by being able to access any service on the Internet without discrimination. Every new application service provider benefits by being able to reach any interested user.” Conversely, broadband providers “may benefit by constraining access to network resources on an exclusive basis, potentially barring other competitors from using these same resources,” said Cerf.
The Internet Evangelist and Net Neutrality
Q: Your title with Google is Vice President & Internet Evangelist. "Internet Evangelist" has a strong religious overtone. Who assigned you that title and why?
A: “Well, you might argue that I have been preaching that Internet is an important infrastructure that everyone should embrace and use so maybe that’s a kind of “article of faith” with me.
Google executives thought this was a good characterization of what I am doing: trying to get more Internet built so that more people can reap the utility of access to this vast quantity of knowledge on the World Wide Web.”
Q: Do you see the fight for Net Neutrality as having similar characteristics to a religious movement?
A: “I think that is probably a bit extreme, but some people are pretty passionate about this question.”
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