Maybe I'm cranky, or jaded. Or perhaps totally dense. But I really don't get why everybody is so upset by the Net Neutrality thing all of a sudden.
I’ve been going online since 1993, and for a significant part of that time, the Internet has been my business. I’ve seem more iterations of "the government is coming to tax your email!" than I can count. When I was still active in the ISP world, I heard about plenty of peering shenanigans that had the potential cut parts of the Internet off from each other. I remember when cable companies started offering Internet access and there was great hand wringing about their potential to cut off their subscribers from parts of the Internet because unlike telcos, cable companies were less regulated.
So when it hit the blogosphere today, my response was, "Oh. That again." (yawn)
This is about trying to squeeze more profitability out of the data pipes, not about “the bad guys are coming to take your blogs away!” Comcast’s execs could care less what you do with the Internet so long as they can make a fat profit off it. Since the US does not have laws on net neutrality, trying to create a tiered content system is an easy way to extract more profit.
That’s not to say that the issue isn’t a real one, but I’m a little confused why so many bloggers are letting themselves be scared by the boogeyman on this one. Here’s what I think will actually happen:
1) Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, and all the other large net-based content sites will get their own lobbyists to lean on Congress.
2) The FCC will re-issue their previous rulings on Net Neutrality.
3) Prices for fast bandwidth will go up. Comcast, Verizon, et al will blame the government for not letting them save the consumer money by creating tiered access systems where the content provider pays.
4) We all continue our merry way.
Now, I could be wrong, of course, but frankly I'm more freaked out by this.
