As you may or may not know, the FCC voted 3-2 in favor of Net Neutrality this week, a plan to keep the Internet free and open.
Proponents say the ruling will ensure that companies like Comcast and Verizon can’t create specialized Internet “fast lanes” where they could charge more for faster access to services like Netlfix or Hulu.
The proposal sounds great, on its face, as many do. However, there are a couple things that concern me.
- Lack of Transparency – President Obama has stated that his administration is the most transparent in history. However, on several occasions the administration has definitely bee anything but. This seems to be another instance. As far as I’m aware, nobody outside the commission knows what is in the 300+ pages of regulations. Also, the Chairman apparently could have testified before Congress but didn’t. If the regulations are so great or really aren’t restrictive at all, why not be more open upfront?
- Is the system broken? – to my knowledge the biggest case that people seem to point to of speed “throttling” was Comcast and Netflix. However, there is mixed information in that case at best. Seems Comcast and Verizon have different stories as to what went down in there deal. Which is no surprise.
- Forgive my ignorance but isn’t paying more for better traffic the way how many things work on the Net? I host this web site with GoDaddy. If I want better throughout or speed to bring you, my loyal readers ( 😉 ), content more quickly, I pay them more $$$. I pay my cable company more for faster access to content on the Net, so they “throttle” my speed until I pay more. Maybe I’m making an inaccurate conclusion, but this seems to be similar to what Netflix and Comcast have done.
I’m not an expert, legal or technical. I do hope that this pans out well and then I can eat my words, even though I won’t like it.