IP Democracy: Nework Neutrality: Benefits Outweigh Cost

Courtesy of Larry Lessig, an intriguing paper presented at an academic conference at the National Center for Technology and Law at George Mason University’s Law school. Researcher and Stanford University Law Fellow Barbara van Schewick studied the economic costs and benefits of network neutrality regulations and concluded that the benefits outweigh the costs.

Following what appears to be a non-biased, straightforward and expert (but be forewarned: extremely scholarly) examination of the upsides and downsides of imposing new neutrality regulations on broadband providers, van Schewick concluded that network providers do have the incentive to discriminate against independent providers and this threat reduces the amount of innovation produced by independent providers. While regulation reduces the innovation of network providers, that loss doesn’t outweigh the loss of innovation that would occur without net neutrality.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on September 27, 2005 12:48 PM to IP Democracy