Slate: One thing the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Tom Wheeler, seems to have overlooked in his widely loathed proposal for a net neutrality overhaul is that if the Internet has a fast lane, it must, necessarily, have a slow lane.
What would life be like in the slow lane—in a “pay to play” world where cable broadband providers can charge companies like Netflix a toll if they want reliable and swift streaming speeds? Well, not to exaggerate, but remember when you tried to use Neopets in 1999 on a dial-up connection?
Tech companies and activists are worried that the creation of two Internets: one quick and reliable for those that can afford it, and the other, of a lesser quality, would seriously undermine the Internet as an open medium for limitless entrepreneurship and communication.
And while we’re not at SOPA and PIPA protest levels by any means, people are coming up with creative ways to voice their disapproval. [Continue reading…]
This just may become interesting, providing that the “BIG GUNS” actually follow through and give the FCC’s Wheeler a taste of his own medicine. It certainly would help if Silicon Valley throws their collective weight toward the people who make up the majority of people who use the internet, regardless of how they utilize it, be it vast or small. Taking steps backward just for the few internet giants to reap more profits, shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Will they, or wont they, that’s the big question.