178. NET NEUTRALITY ANALYSIS AND MECHANISMS FOR ITS ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Internet’s widespread use is mainly attributable to its best-effort concept, as well as being open to all users and services. The principle of net neutrality has been introduced, in essence, to safeguard this concept. Still, net neutrality faces contemporary challenges in the Western world by being continuously disputed or tested. In the United States related regulation has been reversed, while European stakeholders manage to balance and preserve net neutrality’s importance. In that direction, the Macedonian regulation has been mostly in-line with that of the European Union. Even so, challenges grow as Internet service providers find various ways to impose Internet traffic differentia- tion. QoS measurement tools for net neutrality assessment are therefore of great importance, but shortcomings exist. This paper gives the argument that passive measurement tools are more robust in detecting any differentiation. Finally, a proposed model for passively measuring the crucial metric – data throughput – may prove to become better deployable than existing tools, with the goal of general net neutrality assessment.