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.

The first CS Table of the semester will be a discussion of Facebook's new efforts to bring Internet to the world. In Facebook's words:

"At the core of our efforts with Internet.org are non-exclusive partnerships with mobile operators to offer free basic internet services to people through Internet.org. This is a set of basic websites and services to introduce people to the value of the internet, and that we hope add value to their lives."

Apologies for the many loose readings, but this issue is new enough that there isn't a good, canonical resource out there describing both sides. Come to lunch having skimmed the links below and some sense of what the Free Basics controversy is about, and we'll discuss!

• Facebook announcing the internet.org platform
• Internet.org website
• Read up on Free Basics and its underlying platform
• The service being banned in Egypt
• Controversy in India
• Criticism of its limited services

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 12:00-12:45 in JRC 224C. 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, 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!