Network Neutrality threatened??

[amateurmacfreak]

http://civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/
This link was emailed to me from Move On... I found it incredibly alarming!
I don't have much knowledge on the past of this issue, and also I do not know how horribly network neutrality is being threatened at the moment.
Can anyone shed light on this issue?
Is anyone as alarmed by this as I am?
It makes want to throw up.

 

[Les Kern]

Like the Mafia, big business get's PISSED when money changes hands and they're cut out of the "action". Expect this to die soon. No politician in their right mind would back it... they would lose any election.
That being said, we are led by loonies who have shown that big business trumps the good of the people... like the Medicare Part D written by the drug companies and our "energy plan" written by big oil. Money talks.

 

[Oryan]

The issue of net neutrality does alarm me, but I think there is still a lot of speculation as to what is going to happen. As far as I see it, if just a few telcos or ISPs adopt a tiered internet, then I think they will lose customers to their competitors. This is obviously a huge hurdle that must be crossed. There's going to have to be a good reason to want to use a tiered service.

Here are some net neutrality articles from February that I've had bookmarked:

The End of the Internet?
Rumours mount over Google's internet plan
Center for Digital Democracy

 

[iJohnHenry]

For those in need of some respite from this worry.

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/th...espondents/daily-show-john-hodgman/#clip13210

EDIT: Holy thread resurrection, Batman.

 

[Slothapotamus]

The issue of net neutrality does alarm me, but I think there is still a lot of speculation as to what is going to happen. As far as I see it, if just a few telcos or ISPs adopt a tiered internet, then I think they will lose customers to their competitors. This is obviously a huge hurdle that must be crossed. There's going to have to be a good reason to want to use a tiered service.

I've been reading a lot about this on Digg and Reddit in the last year or so. It's primarily a concern in the US, but has recently been brought to light in the UK because of Virgin Media CEO's recent blunder about "net neutrality being a load of bollocks".

As far as I'm aware, in the US, there are only a handful of broadband providers (AT&T, Comcast and Verizon). In the UK, there are literally dozens of providers. Adopting a tiered internet service in the US would be a lot easier because of the lack of competition for customers to turn to. But in the UK I imagine it would be a lot harder. In fact, many people have pledged to drop Virgin Media as their provider because of their recent comment. I recently dropped Pipex because they throttle torrents, which I rarely use but I like to have the opportunity to download something rapidly if I need too.

The internet should be treated like a utility, like water or electricity. Companies don't throttle those. But, because companies are inherently greedy they are always on the lookout for making more profit and cutting costs (usually at the expense of the consumer). In the US a tiered internet is probably inevitable eventually; all a net provider needs to do is mention the words "terrorism" and "security" to the government in a convincing package of reasons for slashing net neutrality and the neo-con's will be all ears. The US is practically on the verge of adopting it anyway. Bush is easily convinced about this kind of restrictive crap; he's proven it before. And, when McCain gets made King of the US for the next 8 years, he'll have the same neo-con hawks advising him as did Bush.

Like I said though, countries with more providers available to consumers and a less restrictive telecoms market will have it easier.

 

[Marble]

I'm not sure your assumption that the US has fewer providers is necessarily sound. At least where I live, there are at least two regional providers, one of which I subscribe to.

I expect that net neutrality will be difficult to legislate against, more difficult even than corporations' efforts at web censorship have been.