‘US telecoms seek to make internet enhanced form of cable TV’

[Triana]

The initiative was pushed by Verizon, the largest mobile phone operator among telecom providers, which demanded that high-speed broadband providers be treated in a different manner than common carriers. That could lead to big companies facing higher charges for the fastest service.

RT: The federal court has dealt a blow for a level playing field for internet use. Are you surprised by its decision?

Dan Gillmor: People who are experts in this are not surprised because the Federal Communications Commission, the regulator in charge of these kinds of issues, had passed rules that were widely understood to be flawed. What the court did was point out the flaws. There are regulatory ways that the FCC could make network neutrality more official, but it chose not to, and we'll see where they go.

RT:Is it as bad as people are saying? And what is the back story, why it has been really done?

DG: It could be. It's not now, and the carriers are loudly saying they have no intention of doing all the bad things that some people are predicting. My guess is that they'll do what's in their financial interests.

I think that the telecom industry, combined with its allies in Hollywood and big media, would very much like to make the internet essentially an enhanced form of cable television. That would be where they pick winners, they pick losers, they decide what's on and what we get to see to some large degree, and that would be in their interest to do. I hope that they don't get away with that.

THE REST:

http://rt.com/op-edge/fcc-versus-verizon-net-neutrality-703/

[Dash87]

1. This has the potential to be a disaster

I'm concerned that the telecoms might restrict access to a few sites with "packages." With these packages, traffic to all addresses but those that are approved (20 or so websites run by corporations, like YouTube) could be denied or significantly slower down. When trying to access an outside website, you could get a message prompting you to call Comcast / AT&T / Cox / Time Warner to buy the package that this website falls into. Smaller websites would be heavily discriminated against or even blocked.

Is this really the Internet we want? A corporate-controlled, opinion-sanitized environment where traffic to telecom's partners is forced?

We would set ourselves back years, if not decades by doing this. Innovation would be killed. It would be a disaster.

[CFLDem]

2. I think it's inevitable

as streaming becomes the dominant form of television viewing. Basically websites will be like interactive television channels.

[jsr]

3. This is a must read.