The Googlization of Everything

WSJ.com:

Google Launches a Net Neutrality Test

Posted By Amy Schatz On January 28, 2009 @ 3:00 pm In Amy Schatz, FCC, Google | 1 Comment

By [1] Amy Schatz

For years, advocates of open Internet, or Net Neutrality, rules have run into an obstacle when trying to sniff out problems: how do you figure out when your Internet traffic is being degraded or blocked?

Analyzing network traffic isn't the easiest thing to do, but that could change with the help of Google Inc., which is helping launch a new effort today to help researchers measure Internet traffic.
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[2] Measurement Lab is designed to help researchers delve into Internet traffic patterns with the idea of being able to figure out when broadband providers are degrading or blocking data.

"When your connection seems flaky, how do you know what the problem is? Is the network, the software or is your PC on the fritz? We want to give users a sense of what's happening," said Derek Slater, a Google policy analyst.

The measurement tools are mostly geared for use by researchers, not consumers, although two of the applications on the site could be somewhat useful to residential Internet users. The "Network Diagnostic Tool" will help measure the speed of your Internet connection (although the rest of the data it provides can be somewhat baffling). The "Glasnost" app can help users figure out if their Internet providers are slowing or blocking BitTorrent traffic.

Measurement Lab was launched in 2008 and is a collaboration of academics, Google Inc., the (partially Google-funded) PlanetLab Consortium and the (partially Google-funded) New America Foundation.

Google is not the first to offer a network neutrality test. Others such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation's [3] Switzerland project have offered similar tests. But Google's project has a larger global footprint: it plans to provide 36 servers in 12 locations across the U.S. in Europe to help researchers track how traffic is flowing across the Internet and where there may be delivery blockages. Company officials hope to broaden the effort to include other university researchers and Internet service providers as well.

"This is not just a Google project. We want this to be a community effort," Slater said.

The assortment of Internet measurement tools on the site could end up being problematic for cable and phone companies, who've been experimenting with different methods of managing Internet traffic for their subscribers.

Last year, the FCC dinged Comcast Corp. for slowing or blocking some peer-to-peer data after independent researchers raised questions about the cable giant's network management practices. Comcast said it was trying to prevent a few bandwidth hogs from slowing down its Internet network. The company changed its network practices late last year (at the insistence of the FCC) so that it would target heavy users and slow their traffic during peak times instead.

Cox Communications was accused of doing the same thing as Comcast last year although the Atlanta-based company managed to avoid FCC action. On Tuesday, the company said it would be changing its network practices to slow some types of Internet traffic during peak periods.

"During the occasional times the network is congested, this new technology automatically ensures that all time-sensitive Internet traffic - such as web pages, voice calls, streaming videos and gaming - moves without delay. Less time-sensitive traffic, such as file uploads, peer-to-peer and Usenet newsgroups, may be delayed momentarily - but only when the local network is congested," Cox [4] posted on its website yesterday.