The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.
Architecture and Public Policy
CIS explores how changes in the architecture of computer networks affect the economic environment for innovation and competition on the Internet, and how the law should react to those changes. This work has lead us to analyze the issue of network neutrality, perhaps the Internet's most debated policy issue, which concerns Internet user's ability to access the content and software of their choice without interference from network providers.
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Barbara van Schewick, director of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, said that “net neutrality ensures that cool, innovative startups don’t have to worry about being blocked, slowed down or having to pay internet service providers, and that people can use their services without interference.”“The more states adopt net neutrality, the larger the market for innovation,” she said.
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Net neutrality law to take effect in California after judge deals blow to telecom industry
“The judge found that the law is on a solid legal foundation and that the ISPs trying to overturn it are not likely to prevail,” said Barbara van Schewick, a law professor at Stanford University, in a statement. She penned one of the legal briefs in support of the law and against the internet providers that had sought an injunction to stop it from taking effect. Read more about Net neutrality law to take effect in California after judge deals blow to telecom industry
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LIVE: TRAI's Net Neutrality open house discussion on traffic management practices
"12:45pm: Professor van Schewick: There is no Net Neutrality left at the federal level in the US. I don’t think any of you is looking at the current US system as a model. The chairman said he’d love an industry-led model for traffic management. While I understand the sentiment, when we allow ISPs to regulate themselves in terms of TMPs, we got results that were bad for consumers. The UK is a key example. In my submission I cited a paper by two scientists who studied what happened in the UK. -
Enforcing Net Neutrality in India: what to know before TRAI's open house discussion
"Barbara van Schewick, Stanford law professor, argued in her filing that regulation should make clear that TMPs should be as “application agnostic” as possible, which means they should not slow down specific types of content or specific applications, when other ways to manage traffic exist. Read more about Enforcing Net Neutrality in India: what to know before TRAI's open house discussion