If you’re reading this, you like and use the internet, and you value the leveling effect of equal access for everyone.
There is a move afoot to take that away.
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It’s worth watching this John Oliver piece because its an excellent demonstration of what an intelligent, very funny comedian can do with a topic when given a week to think about it. 13 minutes long and it never fails, even for 13 seconds, to be extremely smart and funny.
Watching this I began to worry about Oliver’s future on Television: nothing this good can be allowed to last for long.
Net neutrality is a really important topic that has mostly been met with snores by the public. Big businesses are basically searching for another revenue stream, and the end result will be a wealthy-poor divide in internet access.
On websites like this one, I think what will happen is that there will eventually be a buy-in option. You’d be able, Peter, to pay say an extra $20 a month to have your content access the high-speed lanes. Consumers would also have to pay an extra fee to use the high speed lanes. People who refuse to pay the extra fee, or who can’t afford it. on either the content provider or the content reader side, will be relegated to the slow lanes and spottier service.
We’re so perverted towards favoring big business interests in the U.S. that a move like this is met with a collective shrug.
Re: “We’re so perverted towards favoring big business interests in the U.S. ..”
perverted: adj. (Of a thing) having been corrupted or distorted from its original course, meaning, or state:
Example of use: “this sudden surge of perverted patriotism”
Nice, evocative use of the language, Jim. I could not agree more.
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Truthfully though, this is a perennial demand on the part of the gigantic ISPs. We went through this several years ago when Michael Powell (son of Gen. Colin Powell) was the chair of the FCC. Only through the diligent efforts of Michael Copps and one other FCC commissioner running a series of town hall meetings did the effort back in the Cheney Administration finally die the death it deserved.
Here’s another look at that oddly incriminating chart showing the cynical shakedown effort by Comcast to extort Netflix:
http://cis471.blogspot.com/2014/06/comcast-speed-dips-then-recovers.html
More here:
http://cis471.blogspot.com/2014/05/comcast-ceo-brian-roberts-opens-his.html