Berners-Lee Talks Net Neutrality in Washington, “ISPs Should be Treated More Like Utilities”

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Berners-Lee Talks Net Neutrality in Washington, “ISPs Should be Treated More Like Utilities”

By CircleID Reporter
November 17, 2017, 8:34 pm PST Views: 9,593 Comments: 1

Tim Berners-Lee is in Washington urging lawmakers to reconsider the rollback of net neutrality laws—while remaining optimistic, he sees a “nasty wind” blowing amid concerns. Olivia Solon reporting in The Guardian writes: “These powerful gatekeepers ... control access to the internet and pose a threat to innovation if they are allowed to pick winners and losers by throttling or blocking services. It makes sense, therefore, that ISPs should be treated more like utilities. ... ‘Gas is a utility, so is clean water, and connectivity should be too,’ said Berners-Lee. ‘It’s part of life and shouldn’t have an attitude about what you use it for—just like water.’”

By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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Websites as utilities Anthony Rutkowski – Nov 21, 2017 4:27 PM

Inquiring legislators might ask Tim why major websites are not utilities as well.
The large ones would certainly qualify as utilities - perhaps more so than ISPs. Indeed governments around the world are contemplating this avenue. Tim is treading in areas in which he has zero expertise with significant unintended consequences. He should stick to his area of competence - evolving html.

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