The future of the internet: A virtual counter-revolution | The Economist.

This issue of The Economist contains an excellent overview of the Net Neutrality issue.  It would be a great resource for anyone who wants to get up to speed on the issue (or to pass along to friends).  They address it primarily from the standpoint of the fragmentation of the Internet, and give current examples like international domain names and closed applications to support their point. They back it up with an oft-forgotten historical point:

Devotees of a unified cyberspace are worried that the online world will soon start looking as it did before the internet took over: a collection of more or less connected proprietary islands reminiscent of AOL and CompuServe.

International examples also show how we approach the issue much differently than the rest of the world.

It is telling that net neutrality has become far more politically controversial in America than it has elsewhere. This is a reflection of the relative lack of competition in America’s broadband market. In Europe and Japan, “open access” rules require network operators to lease parts of their networks to other firms on a wholesale basis, thus boosting competition.

Things close with Zittrain’s argument that a more closed internet might harm innovation.

Should the network become a collection of proprietary islands accessed by devices controlled remotely by their vendors, the internet would lose much of its “generativity”, warns Harvard’s Mr Zittrain.

Props to the Economist for such a clearly written, accessible piece on this important issue.