Last week (June 27) the FTC released a report promoting guidelines and caution in regards to increasing regulation – especially in terms of Net Neutrality. That has spurred a number of article and blog posts. I thought I’d get a snapshot of time on the topic with an annotated bibliography on the topic. By no stretch of the imagination is this exhaustive – just a picture of what I’ve come across this week:

Is Buying An iPhone A Vote Against Net Neutrality? – Google and Yahoo and pro Net Neutrality. AT&T, Rupert Murdoch, Verizon, Deutsche Telekom are against legislation. You’d think that Apple would be for Net Neutrality given the potential impact on iTunes but they’d pair up with AT&T for the iPhone service. Which leads to the title question… (I didn’t realize that an iPhone purchase came with a 2 year contract with AT&T!!)

Is Clearwire a Net Neutrality Violator? Does It Matter? – The author believes that a competitive market for Internet connectivity would make net neutrality a non-issue. He relays the story of a guy(s) who ran into an issue with Clearwire who blocked IP addresses and prevented folks from using VoIP services from other companies.

FTC Issues Staff Report on Broadband Connectivity Competition Policy – The FTC seems cool to the idea of more regulation, such as Net Neutrality, but they plan to work on consumer education, industry guidance and competition advocacy.

FTC Cautions Against Net Neutrality Legislation – This come from the American Library Association (ALA). Is there anyone smarter than a librarian? Personal Note: I have a Master’s Degree in Library and Info Science. 🙂 The recent report by the FTC is a boon to supporters, (such as telecom companies) and a potential blow to supports (such as the ALA). FTC stated that they will monitor the situation.

We Still Need Net Neutrality Legislation – The author disagrees strongly with the recent FTC report’s exertion that Net Neutrality would stifle competition and that competition is currently increasing. Net Neutrality opponents have been working to increase profits not innovation and the US standing against worldwide broadband standards is indicative of that effort.

The Death of Net Neutrality – OK it’s the responses to this post that I find most interesting here. They don’t always use words I’d like to hear my 3 year old say – but they get to the point. I’ll paraphrase and say “golly this stinks”.