Four questions that determine whether traffic management is reasonable

Abstract

As part of the wider debate over net neutrality, traffic management practices of Internet Service Providers have become an issue of public concern. The Federal Communications Commission has asked for public input on whether deep packet inspection and other traffic management practices are reasonable forms of network management. Little attention has been paid to this issue within the academic networking community, and most Internet policy researchers have recommended a case-by-case analysis. This paper proposes four questions that can be used to determine whether a traffic management practice is reasonable or unreasonable.