Stanford CIS

T-Mobile, Pokémon GO, and Another Test for Net Neutrality

on

"Net neutrality advocates warn that a world in which only the largest and most powerful companies can afford to secure preferential treatment from ISPs will stifle innovation. Unchecked, such a development would eventually limit consumer choice. In a January 2016 paper (PDF) critical of Binge On, Stanford Law School professor Barbara van Schewick distilled the primary issue:

Internet service providers (ISPs) that connect us to the Internet should not act as gatekeepers that pick winners and losers online by favoring some applications over others… Providers in Binge On enjoy a competitive advantage, not based on merit but simply because T-Mobile added them to its program."