Net Neutrality - Post #2

Net Neutrality - What does it mean and why should I care?

The internet has become the main source of communication for most Americans. We start our day by checking email, reading the headlines, trading stocks or balancing the checkbook - all before we even step out the door. Other times we use the internet for entertainment. We can watch a TV show or a movie online or we can share photos and videos with family and friends or listen to music being broadcast from stations around the world. We enjoy all these resources through our Internet Service Providers (ISP's) who enable us to access any website we want, whenever we want, at the fastest speed available.

The ISP's, like Time Warner, Comcast, ATT and Verizon want to charge a premium (tax) for companies that use a high percentage of bandwith to ensure speed of delivery of their products. In addition to your internet service, this includes your TV and phone service. At the current time the FCC regulates whether or not the telecoms can charge a tax. The ISP's have lobbied Congress and the Senate and legislation has been passed to allow providers to do what they call "traffic shaping" which allows certain types of content to have priority bandwith over their long distance connections - at a premium, of course.

The problem arises when deciding which content or "data packets" get priority and which don't. Companies or "content providers" who pay a premium will get the most bandwith, while those that don't have the money to pay will be at the mercy of the remaining bandwith. This could change the way you use the internet. What if you were in the middle of transferring money from you savings account to your checking account and your internet connection began to slog along? Get the picture?

There is also something more serious to consider here - whether or not the ISP's should be allowed to block some packets. On one hand some say the ISP's should be able to block such things as kiddy porn. On the other hand, who would know if the providers were paid by one client to block the content of a competitor?

We've only seen the tip of the iceberg on this issue. Will our Federal government be swayed by smooth-talking, money spending lobbyists? We'll know soon enough.

Hi there! - Post #1

This is the first post for a great new class at Grossmont College called Practical Internet Marketing. Having an internet-based business is something I've been planning to do for some time now and hope to have the website up and running by the end of the the year.