Net Neutrality

Referenced several times previously on this blog, net neutrality is an important topic that rises to the fore now. After all, the ISPs want their vigorish. This article does an artful job of defining net neutrality, its importance, and what might change for consumers, for companies, for all of us, in the future...

"Telecoms argue that they are not getting enough return for the tremendous investments they have made to lay down fiber-optic cables and otherwise pave the information highway. Content prioritization is just one more revenue stream they want to explore.

"The capitalist in me says, "Go for it." The consumer in me says, "Wait a minute." If ISPs truly need more revenue to cover the costs of deploying broadband networks (and let's give them that one, for the sake of argument), I can understand that they'd want to raise rates for Internet access and bandwidth use, or impose penalties for excessive bandwidth usage. In fact, many contracts already include such a provision; a Web site can be shut down if it goes over its bandwidth allocation. What I'm far less sanguine about is allowing ISPs any control over content, especially if that control comes with a price tag."

Continue reading here...

BTW, the telecom companies are full of *&^%. Who was it, after all, that paid the piper for the buildout the past 10+ years? How quickly they forget.

-- David M Gordon / The Deipnosophist