What's an ISP? (That's not a trick question)

24.11.2008
As President-elect Barack Obama begins fleshing out his agenda, one promising sign is that he considers Internet infrastructure to be key, judging from both his stated goals and the caliber of people he's asking to advise him on policy.

I couldn't agree more. But before we jump into policy discussions, we should probably agree on some definitions. What, exactly, comprises an ISP? Is it a telco that also offers Internet connectivity? A wireless provider? What about a content provider?

I'm not being pedantic -- the answers have far-reaching consequences for policy issues like universal broadband and net neutrality.

Take Amazon, whose Kindle device has transformed my life over the past eight months. For those who don't know, the Kindle's an e-book; a paperback-sized plastic device with a black-and-white display optimized for books and other written material. Its best feature, though, is the ability to deliver books instantaneously (or nearly so) through a free wireless link: Click, download, read.

For folks like me who are addicted to the written word, it's more compelling than caffeine. So Amazon provides the wireless connection, and doesn't charge users for it. (The actual network is Sprint's, but Amazon brands it as "Amazon WhisperNet.")

Here's where it gets interesting, though. This wireless link is actually an Internet connection, which is optimized to take users directly to the Amazon.com Web site. But like any "real" Internet connection, it also supports general-purpose browsing, e-mail and other applications.