Neutralidad en la red

El experto en tecnologías información Robert Cringely ha tratado recientemente el asunto de la neutralidad en la red.

Cringely explica como las afirmaciones a cerca de la igualdad de los bits en Internet no tienen mucho sentido:

...The Net Neutrality issue rests, in part, on the concept of the Internet as a "best effort" network. Best effort, in the minds of the Internet Engineering Task Force, means something slightly different than we are being told in the general press. It means that all packets are treated equally poorly in that no particular efforts are made to ensure delivery. The Net, itself, performs no packet life-support function. This is in keeping with the concept of the Internet as a dumb network. So even in cases of transport protocols that DO attempt to perform reliable transport (protocols like TCP), those recovery measures are negotiated between the server and the client, not by the network that connects them, simple as that.
But all packets aren't created equal. TCP packets over longer distance connections, for example, are effectively at a disadvantage, because they are more likely to have data loss and require retransmissions, thus expanding their appetites for bandwidth...

Pero lo más interesante del articulo de Cringely es como, al margen de posturas alarmistas, intuye que la única causa escondida tras la batalla legislativa no es más que la lucha por el mercado de telefonía y la tremenda competencia que en este puede introducir el desarrollo de la VoIP.

Where this Net Neutrality issue will hit home is for Voice over IP telephone service, which becomes pitiful if there is too much latency. That's what this is all about, folks: VoIP and nothing else. The telcos want to use it to keep out the Vonages, Skypes, and Packet8s, and the cable companies do, too. It is a $1 trillion global business, so we shouldn't be surprised that the ISPs will do anything to own it, but it isn't about movies or music or even AJAX apps -- at least, not yet.

Desafortunadamente parece que Cringeley olvida la importancia del mercado en este asunto y es que los usuarios de provedores de internet que tengan problemas con sus conexiones de VoIP no tardarán en acudir a aquellas compañias que no les toquen las narices en lo que respecta a sus conexiones de voz. Siempre y cuando, claro, consideren prioritario ese servicio por encima de otras consideraciones.