Save the Internet

Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Network neutrality ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate website by preventing companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying Web sites. [Can we stop this?]

Yes, but the Internet started out mostly as a bunch of people connecting together using high speed lines. The carriers like AT&T, Sprint, C&W can only cause QOS headaches for packets going across their own circuits. For instance a vendor like Vonage can pay for their VOIP traffic to be carried at a higher prioroty, when web traffic is lower.

Companies and individuals still pay for their own circuits. If I have service from AT&T then they will be required to provide me the service level they promised me. If I have service from Comcast, then they too will be providing me with the service level they promise.

The BIG, BIG thing to take from this is that when businesses lobby heavily for something, it is usually to drastically save money and pocket even more. They want to make short-cuts in their own R&D and not have to shell out as much cash later. Heh, let the government share some of the burdon here. It is absurd when these companies lobby, because they are always up to no good.

If these companies were not going to make any money at it, or have some kind of long-term agenda, why on earth would they spend all the money and effort lobbying in the first place?

I don't trust these companies making politcal policy, because it never get written down and enforced properly. Look at the DMCA or other such legislation. Absolute rubbish!

So although I would say the whole Net Neutrality thing is being reported a little skewed, the underlying reasons from the carrier are dead wrong. They think they want to make things better, but they are really just looking our for their bottom line.

Personally, I think a wireless mesh system would be awesome. I just think that someday the government and business alike would find somehow to take that over too. Anything which has a possibility for making money will eventually get corrupted by some no good corporation.

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