0133050866_vc MIS13_CH04_Case1_NetNeutrality.pdfVIP

Management Information Systems 13e KENNETH C. LAUDON AND JANE P. LAUDON CHAPTER 4 ETHICAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL ISSUES IN E-COMMERCE CASE 1 What Net Neutrality Means for You VIDEO CASE Systems SUMMARY Net neutrality refers to the pricing of Internet broadband service by the telephone and cable companies that provide the Internet backbone (Internet Service Providers or ISPs) . Facing very large investment costs, ISPs would like to be able to charge more for heavy users of their networks—people, who, for instance, watch a large number of Netflix streaming movies each week. In some cases, ISPs have suggested they would like to eliminate or slow down certain traffic altogether, like BitTorrent music files, or Skype VOIP phone calls. The FCC and public policy advocates claim any discrimination against certain types of files, or charging more for heavy bandwidth use, is unfair, discriminatory, and will likely hurt innovation and the Internet. If Netflix and YouTube customers had to pay more for their videos, they might not watch so many. L= 4:28. URL /watch?v=hxz7PYlFvdIfeature=fvst CASE Net neutrality is the idea that ISPs like Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and ATT, must allow customers equal access to content and applications, regardless of the source or nature of the content. ISPs may not discriminate against any content, or types of files, by refusing to transmit these files, or charging more for these files and content. For some, it also means that everyone will be charged the same flat fee regardless of how much bandwidth they consume. This means that people who download very large video files pay no more