Telecoms Want The Googles of the World to Pay For Broadband ‘HOV’
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Written By Reprise Media | February 8, 2006 | Share This
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The fur is flying again on Capitol Hill this week, as US Legislators are considering a bill that would ensure what’s called ‘net neutrality’ for the internet. As reported in this AP story, the move would prevent broadband providers from charging extra tolls to bandwidth-hungry companies like Google and internet phone firm Vonage for using high speed pathways to connect to their customers. Telecoms, who own the high-speed networks, oppose such regulations, and one Verizon senior VP likened the net neutrality concept to a ‘free lunch.’ And if those sound like fighting words, there were plenty to go around.
Verizon was joined by firms such as AT&T and Bellsouth in defending their right to recoup the costs of upgrading their networks from content providers who generate a lot of traffic, stream large video files or otherwise gobble up massive amounts of bandwidth. They suggest implementing a tiered payment plan, wherein companies paying the most would be able to access the fastest connections; a law enforcing net neutrality would preclude this angle.
But tech firms insist that eliminating the non-prejudicial treatment of content would stifle innovation and even shrink the web, driving smaller firms out of business. Stanford law professor Larry Lessig weighed in, reported this Financial Times story, comparing the telecoms’ proposed toll scheme to a highway carpool lane that “would degrade some services by reducing the capacity available to others.” And Daniel Berninger writes (in an op-ed on Om Malik’s blog) that it would be like “charging Ford tolls in addition to drivers for the right of Ford cars to use highways.”
Coming in to bat for the ‘little guy’ was Google’s Vint Cerf, a “father” of the internet; he defended net neutrality as a force to protect the interests of regular folks. “Promoting an open and accessible Internet is critical for consumers,” he said. “We risk losing the Internet as a catalyst for consumer choice, for economic growth, for technological innovation and for global competitiveness.”
But if Cerf was interested in protecting consumer choice, he wasn’t quite as cavalier about protecting consumers’ wallets, accoring to this Tech Web story. Cerf said that if Telecoms needed cash to maintain their infrastructure, their own customers could provide it. And even if Congress rejects net neutrality and allows telecoms to charge hi-speed tolls, the cost would be passed from tech firms on to their advertisers on to - you guessed it - consumers. In the end, said Joe Laszlow, a JupiterResearch analyst, “It’s just a matter of who’s bill you end up seeing this on.” [sic]
Topics: Legal Issues |