From Newsforge, Today’s cell phone system argues for retaining network neutrality.

Consider the closed, anti-innovation system that is the cell phone network. Do you want the Internet to be like that? Is that best solution for the rest of the economy and society in general?

James Glass (not his real name) is the owner of a company currently trying to navigate the minefield of running a third-party service on the cell phone networks. He is writing the article pseudonymously because the cell phone companies have the power and freedom to crush his company by blocking it from their networks.

Today I decided to checkout Rocketboom for the first time. This site seems to get a lot of press so I figured I should at least take a look. Browsing the archives I found this piece on net neutrality. It is perhaps a bit over the top but it is interesting nonetheless.

A Broadband Utopia from IEEE Spectrum describes how a few municipalities in Utah joined together to build the high speed Internet infrastructure that for-profit telecommunication companies were not willing to. This article is definitely worth the somewhat long read. Several good points are made. The physical network duplication between the phone and cable companies is very expensive. The analogy given in the article is that this duplication is similar to every airline building its own airport instead of sharing the costs. I also find the argument that public Internet infrastructure opens up the market to new entrants very compelling. Competition is a good thing. Customers using the public network described in this article have their choice of companies offering TV, Internet, phone and other network services.

Fishburn says that the Utopia design makes it easy for every high school to have, in effect, its own TV station. “And not just the school,” he says. “Why not every high school student?”

Why You Should Care About Network Neutrality

The corporate toll on the Internet

Neutrality of the Net by Tim Berners-Lee

If you are interested in arguments both for and against net neutrality you should read Net neutrality, take 2 from the Washington monthly. The comments are mostly worth reading too.