Sunday, February 12, 2006

The Segregated Internet

So this is a debate people concerned about the future internet should be aware of:

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is considering making changes to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and one of the ideas being floated is that network providers should be allowed to offer preferential service to some of their customers instead of providing a neutral data carrier service.
Now some of the big telecoms companies want to be able to sell premium services for things like streaming video or voice over IP, and some people are worried that this will eventually lead to a segregated internet.

More by Bill Thompson(shortest), Cringely and Lawrence Lessig. Wikipedia on Network Neutrality and Virtual Karma with a funny dialog that may happen in 2019 after the big telcos got their way.