Net Neutrality May Slow Downloads

The principle of net neutrality can be taken too far, some experts say. The internet could be made much more efficient—and downloads faster—if network managers were allowed to use info about the content they're sending, a Princeton engineering professor tells Technology Review. That would allow them to prioritize what should be rushed and what can wait.

BitTorrent's CTO agrees but says he's not sure there's reason enough to trust that network operators wouldn't misuse info about content, which is exactly what net neutrality is designed to prevent. "I think there's a degree of mistrust at the moment where I'm not sure we would believe the operators," says Eric Klinker. (More net neutrality stories.)