Posted on Slashdot:
http://slashdot.org/articles/05/12/01/203229.shtml?tid=95Linked article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/30/AR2005113002109.html"A senior telecommunications executive at BellSouth, said yesterday that Internet service providers should be allowed to strike deals to give certain Web sites or services priority in reaching computer users, a controversial system that would significantly change how the Internet operates. Some say Small Firms Could Be Shut Out of Market Championed by BellSouth Officer. William L. Smith, chief technology officer for Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp., told reporters and analysts that an Internet service provider such as his firm should be able, for example, to charge Yahoo Inc. for the opportunity to have its search site load faster than that of Google Inc." Next up, well dressed men go door to door collecting their monthly "protection money". 'It sure would be tragic if your users started getting 1500ms ping times, wouldn't it mister dot com?'"
THIS IS HORRIBLE and everyone who uses the internet must pay attention to this and lobby Congress to turn the Internet into a common carrier so the people who own the pipes can't influence what goes thru them IN ANY WAY.
I know slippery slope arguments are frowned upon but if this goes thru it will open up a whole new world where the Internet is not free and open but rather an amalgam of walled off areas. This will limit the free expression of ideas and stifle innovation. There are already rumblings of big telcos blocking voice over IP (Skype, Vonage, etc) because it competes with their POTS services (Plain Old Telephone)
Telcom companies need to get it thru their head that they exist to provide a PIPE. Thats it. They can charge their customers for access to that pipe. They have no business controlling or manipulating what goes thru that pipe. Meaning...they can't give preference to a company who's willing to pay more. That's monkeying around with the pipe. There must be a hands-off policy.
Any telco that starts doing the thing this guy is talking about needs to be boycotted and any company that enters into any sort of preferential service agreement with said corporation needs to be boycotted. Congress/FCC should make these sorts of arrangements illegal.