Throttling Net Neutrality?

Introduction

With expected further dramatic increases in data traffic due to the growth of IPTV and 4G mobile services and the emergence of traffic management technologies such as 'deep packet inspection' which has increased the ability of network operators to prioritise certain types of traffic, the debate concerning net neutrality is becoming even more prominent.

Net neutrality is a term used to refer to the treatment by ISPs of different forms of data being transmitted via the 'pipes' that make up their networks. The net neutrality debate is often polarised between:

• Those who believe that internet applications, content, content providers and users should be treated equally by ISPs with no discrimination against any application or content through prioritisation of traffic or by blocking particular traffic – in the words of Barack Obama -"We can't have a situation in which the corporate duopoly [of cable and telephone companies] dictates the future of the