Net Neutrality is a term that isn’t sexy enough to get the iTunes, MySpace and Facebook crowds excited. But thankfully, we have a bunch of watchdog technologists keeping a close eye on this.
In a nutshell, as I understand it, Comcast and other Internet Service Providers want to control how fast certain web sites can deliver content. Think about Web site content as a car. Right now, every car has access to every super wide highway, and there are no speed limits. But if Comcast and its friends get their way, they would get to decide which cars get to drive on super highways, and which ones have to drive on pothole filled dirt roads. They argue this would allow them to control piracy.
But most others argue that its a way for them to effectively shut down blogs and alternative media. For example, my blog could be stuck on their "dirt road" list and take 2 minutes to load, effectively stopping anyone from reading it. They could charge millions o fdollars for super highway access, and only the major media outlets and super corporations would be able to deliver content quickly. It would be impossible to launch a small web business, because your site would take much longer than the established ones.
Since most people don’t follow this too closely, most people don’t really think it’s a big deal. So here’s evidence that it is INDEED a big deal.
How big are the stakes in the so-called network neutrality debate now raging before Congress and federal regulators?
Consider this: One side in the debate actually went to the trouble of hiring people off the street to pack a Federal Communications Commission meeting yesterday—and effectively keep some of its opponents out of the room.
Broadband giant
Comcast—the subject of the F.C.C. hearing on network neutrality at the Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts—acknowledged that it did exactly that….
Be sure to read the whole article on Portfolio.com. Very shady, very corrupt, and an indicator of the lengths Comcast and others will go to control what web sites you have access to.
