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Dark Web or Net Neutrality. Do Something About It?
5/24/2006
By Terry Calhoun
I was going to write this week about seeming parallels between the spread of monocultures of food plants by big agriculture and what’s happened in the past ten years with Learning Management Systems (LMS), but a couple of timely news items captured my attention. Instead I am going to urge you to do something to help preserve Net Neutrality and fend off the Dark Web.
If you don’t want to read any further, then the gist of my opinion this week is that right now is a fairly critical time for higher education institutions with regard to the next ten years of the Internet. It would be very helpful if you view this and the accompanying information about how to communicate with your federal legislators. Take a moment to do so. That way, you can be doing something about an important issue.
If you want to learn a little more about the debate, along the same lines that I have been learning, then read on!
In order to make more money, the large telecoms (Some of the same folks who are tracking our calls for the NSA.) want to change the World Wide Web’s founding principle: Net Neutrality. To me it’s kind of like they’re trying to make a limited, and therefore more expensive, resource out of an unlimited resource.
I’ve been following the debate on Net Neutrality and learning a bit more each week. At first I thought it was a simpler matter of companies like AOL wishing to charge e-mail senders a fee to ensure that their e-mails don’t “accidentally” get caught up in AOL’s spam filters. (Even that instantly sounded a bit Mafia-like to me.) But as I read more, I learned that it is a larger issue.
I find myself, almost reflexively, on the side of those who write things like:
Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment – a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you – based on what site pays them the most. If the public d'esn't speak up now, our elected officials will cave to a multimillion dollar lobbying campaign.
Of course, World Wide Web founder Tim Berners-Lee has a large influence on my opinion. Last week, speaking to that larger issue of U.S. telecom companies wanting to create a two-tier Internet system (read article here), Berners-Lee said, “What’s very important from my point of view is that there is one Web.” He said that if the U.S. allowed the companies to move forward with their plans, the World Wide Web would enter “a dark period.”
Recommended Reading
- News Update :: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Institute for Cyber Security at U Texas, San Antonio Opens Incubator
: ISO/IEC Publishes Office Open XML Standard
: Dynamics NAV 2009 ERP Coming Next Month
: Southwest Baptist U Adopts Angel LMS
: IE8 Release Candidate Coming on Q1 2009
: Hodges U Credits Lecture Capture for Online Enrollment Boost
: Mitsubishi Debuts WXGA Projectors for Education
: Slippery Rock U Applies SAS to Data Management and Reporting
: Moodle Gets SCORM Improvements, Security Fixes - IT Trends :: Thursday, November 20, 2008
:::::: CASE STUDY
:: DePaul Sets the Bar in Student Relationship Management
:::::: IT NEWS
:: Microsoft Unveils Exchange and SharePoint as Services
:: Penn State Pilots Proctored Online Testing System from Kryterion
:: State-wide New Mexico E-learning Program Adopts Wimba for Collaboration
:: IBM Launches 'Pass It Along' Social Networking, Knowledge Sharing Tool
:: MIR3 Adds Recorded Response Feature to Mass Notification Service
:: Northern New Mexico College Moves to Latest AVG Anti-Virus
:: Ubuntu ARMed for Mobile Expansion - SmartClassroom :: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
:::::: SPOTLIGHT
: 6 Ways Not To Become Rote Using Instructional Technology
:::::: NEWS and PRODUCT UPDATES
: CSU System Adopts Moodle LMS Services
: CourseCast Integrates Closed-Captioning Service
: Wimba Pronto 2.1 Adds Accessibility, Spanish Language Features
: Mitsubishi Debuts XD95U 'Pico' Projector
: InFocus Launches DisplayLink Projector for Education - Web 2.0 :: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
:::::: THE BUZZ
: Bringing Student Web "Stuff" to Campus Enterprise Systems
:::::: WEIGHING IN
: Tipping Point for "Content"--Dynamic Interaction, Not Static Stuff
:::::: PRODUCTS AND APPS
: Delta iTunes U Helps Meet Student Expectations for Web 2.0 Apps
: Penn State Pilots Proctored Online Testing System from Kryterion
: State-wide New Mexico E-learning Program Adopts Wimba for Collaboration
: CSU System Adopts Moodle LMS Services
: Office Web Apps Will Work on iPhones - News Update :: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Carnegie Mellon Validates Production Xirrus 802.11n Network
: Ave Maria U Deploys In-Building Cellular Gear
: ASU Campus Nixes Fiber; Chooses Gigabit Wireless for Network Connectivity
: Sun Unveils Family of Open Storage Appliances
: Office Web Apps Will Work on iPhones
: Sun To Cut More Than 15 Percent of Global Workforce
: Texas A&M Upgrades Supply Chain Lab Curriculum
: Texas Lutheran U Implementing Jenzabar EX for ERP
: Anna U Chennai Partners with Cypress on Embedded Systems Engineering - Campus Security :: November 14, 2008
:::::: SECURITY SPOTLIGHT
: Smart Phone Security: New Challenges for Road Warriors
:::::: CAMPUS SECURITY NEWS
: SMobile Releases Antivirus To Protect Google Android Phones
: Blue Coat Integrates Network Appliances
: e2Campus Provides Twitter Integration in Emergency Notification System
: Moodle Gets Student Verification Capabilities
: Rave Wireless Adding BlackBerry Devices to Notification Service
: U Miami Trades IPS for Top Layer Security System
: Cornell Hardens Campus Network with Gigabit Wireless Radio Links
: U Pittsburgh Turns to Verizon Business for Automated Notification Services
