Towards an Economic Framework for Network Neutrality Regulation by Barbara van Schewick,
Telecommunications Policy Research Conference, 2005.

…[P]roponents of network neutrality regulation have asked the Federal Communications Commission to impose rules on the operators of broadband access networks that forbid network operators to discriminate against third-party applications, content or portals (Òindependent applicationsÓ) and to exclude them from their network. These proposals are based on the concern that in the absence of such regulation, network operators may discriminate against these products and that this behavior may reduce innovation by providers of these products to the detriment of society….

The paper highlights a variety of circumstances under which a network operator may have the ability and incentive to discriminate against independent applications in spite of competition in the market for Internet services.

Finally, the paper shows that the threat of discrimination will reduce the amount of application-level innovation to the detriment of society as a whole.

Related posts:

1. More on Network Neutrality
2. Susan Crawford on FCC Network Neutrality
3. Network Neutrality and Monopoly Control
4. What is Network Neutrality and Why Should Libraries Care?
5. Will ISPs dictate what you can access?