Computer Science | Grinnell College

During our CS Table on net neutrality, we'll run through the basic principles and history, discuss previous actions to strengthen or erode net neutrality, and think about the consequences of possible upcoming changes from the FCC. As always, we strongly encourage you to complete the readings before the discussion, but you are welcome whether you have read or not.

1. Net Neutrality: A Guide to (and History of) a Contested Idea. Alexis C. Madrigal and Adrienne LaFrance. The Atlantic. April 25, 2015.
2. Net Neutrality Foe to Head the FCC. Larry Greenmeier. Scientific American. January 30, 2017.
3. What Happens If Net Neutrality Goes Away? Mike Orcutt. MIT Technology Review. January 20, 3017.

Computer science table (CS Table) is a weekly meeting of Grinnell College community members (students, faculty, staff, etc.) interested in discussing topics related to computing and computer science. CS Table meets Tuesdays from 12:00-1:00pm in JRC 224B. Contact the CS faculty for the weekly reading. Students on meal plans, faculty, and staff are expected to cover the cost of their meals. Visitors to the College and students not on meal plans can charge their meals to the department.

This Friday at CS Table, Simon and Jeff will present the information contained in packet headers and lead a continued discussion on network surveillance. We suggest the following reading (as much as you have interest or time for):

• ResNet Guidelines and Policies
• Ellen Nakashima, US seeks ways to wiretap the Internet, Washington Post, Sept 27, 2010.
• Paul Ohm, When Network Neutrality Met Privacy, CACM 53(4):30-32, April 2010.
• Kristina Irion, International Communications Surveillance, CACM 52(2):26-28, Feb 2009.
• TCP Protocol Layers Explained, Dru Lavigne, ONLamp.com, March 14, 2001.
• Capturing TCP Packets, Dru Lavigne, ONLamp.com, March 21, 2001.
• IP Packets Revealed, Dru Lavigne, ONLamp.com, March 28, 2001.

As usual, we'll meet a little after noon in JRC 224A.

Students who are registered for CSC 295: We'll be doing sign-ups for after fall break. Please bring your calendars!

This Friday at CS Table, Isaac and Josh will be leading a discussion about quality of service and network neutrality. The popular press articles are concerned with recent regulatory proposals:

• Nate Anderson, FCC proposes network neutrality rules (and big exemptions), Ars Technica, Oct 22, 2009.
• Declan McCullagh, Court: FCC has no power to regulate Net neutrality, CNET News, April 6, 2010.
• Matthew Lasar, Few neutrals in debate over third way net neutrality plan, Ars Technica, July 19, 2010.

Technical readings from Wikipedia are concerned with existing Internet service models:

• Best Effort Delivery
• Quality of Service

As usual, we meet at noon in JRC 224A. Hope to see you there!

This Friday, Jesse and Shitanshu will be leading a discussion on the SMTP application-level protocol and one of its most popular uses, spam. Please read this article:

• E. Allman, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, the FTC, and Spam, ACM Queue, Oct 2003.

For additional background, also read about SMTP.

As usual, we'll be meeting in JRC 224A at noon. Hope to see you there!