20060212
    Do you think that Internet Service Providers should be able to charge more for certain types of access that others? Perhaps, the ISP might charge more for an internet connection that allows for video of voice over IP than for one that just lets you check email. What about charging you for the bandwidth you use, like cell phone minutes?
    The telecommunications companies think that they should be able to do so, and through their lobbyists in Congress, they are pursuing that agenda. Recent hearings in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation show that Congress may just be willing to let those companies have their way.
    The problem with the model being presented by the telecommunications companies is that their only real goal is more money. The neutrality of the internet in the past decade of its widespread use has allowed for the development of all kinds of technology, goods, and services that would not have been able to come into existence under other circumstances. How many of us regularly use Amazon, Ebay, or Google for all sorts of activities from finding a movie time to buying a car? Without the current neutrality of the internet, these services would not likely exist.
    And, the internet as we know it now is just on the cusp of becoming the internet that it should be. In the next several years, a whole new scheme of technologies and services will make the internet truly into our portal to the world through content on demand services, home automation, and even power delivery. If the telecommunications companies are allowed to charge for each of these services individually, what are the chances that they will come into regular use?
    This may see egalitarian, but the internet needs to be neutral in order for it to work. Without that neutrality, it cannot be the breeding ground for the future it has become, and we will all ultimately suffer from such a lack.
DLH
But are we not already charged for the bandwidth? If not, then what is the monthly fee for???
Indeed, we are charged for bandwidth, but what the telecoms want to charge us for is content. Imagine that, instead of paying for bandwidth and being able to do what you want with it (email, browsing, video, VoIP, gaming, etc), suddenly you have to pay a fee for each capability seperately, like with a cell phone. Instead of a $20 a month flat fee, its now $20 for email and browsing, $10 more if you want to be able to view video, $20 more if you want to game online, etc. It makes using the internet a lot more expensive and the telecoms that much richer.
A parallel example is imagining the internet like a higway. None of us pay more to use a highway because we drive a passenger truck versus a passenger car. The same thing should hold true for the internet.
DLH