Sorin Adam Matei
Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.
This is an introduction to a set of core concepts related to Internet communication for the Course COM 251 Information, Technology, Society which I teach at Purdue University. One of Aesop’s fables gives a clever answer to the question: “what is the…
This is a tutorial on a set of core concepts related to Internet communication for the courses I teach at Purdue University. In a previous post about the basic architecture of the Internet, I discussed the Internet’s intrinsic decentralization and its layered…
A balanced view on net neutrality… To make sure consumers benefit, we need to solve the network capacity problem. Yes, we need to ensure broadband providers can’t do something nefarious to kill off new services. But we also need to ensure content…
In the net neutrality debate Google is ready to concede these rights to the opposition (cable industry): # Prioritizing all applications of a certain general type, such as streaming video; # Managing their networks to, for example, block certain traffic based on…
Google’s been strongly opposed to the whole pay-as-you-go revamping of the Internet (the equivalent of introducing toll-lanes ofn the Internet). You know, the whole net neutrality debate. At the same time, Google seems to suggest that its opposition is only pro forma.…
Saturday, November 18, 2006 I’m going to say something controversial. I know, I know. The internet is for free speech. It is the last remnant of the American sixties counterculture. It’s about self-expression and information sharing. So why do I think it’s…
We were discussing the other day in class (COM 250H) the Net neutralityprinciple, which if violated would destroy the great philosophical underpinning of the Internet: its edge-to-edge openness and simplicity. The same The Economist, which attacked the issue with great gusto in…
The Internet is a great equalizer. Even for Al Qaeda… ABC News: Al Qaeda’s Web of Terror bin Laden and Zawahiri still use these e-mail services to send their directives through the Internet. Not directly, of course, but through intermediaries, usually bodyguards,…
The Economist takes a stance, contrarian as usual, on the issues of “preferential service” and premium fees on the Internet. Economist.com | Articles by Subject | The internet Yet some packets are already favoured, even on today’s internet. Businesses routinely pay a…
NY Times takes a moderately supportive position in the matter: The High-Speed Money Line – New York Times Are consumers going to start having to spend a lot more to surf the Web? Phone and cable companies have stoked those fears recently…