What would you say if you Electric Company wanted to charge you more to power your TV than they charge to power your oven? What if the electricity you used for air conditioning was twice the price of the electricity used to power lighting? You would probably say electricity is electricity. You would see the notion as preposterous and you’d demand the electric company stop charging different rates based on the purpose of your electricity usage.
What would you say it the electric company wanted to charge you for your electricity and then also wanted charge Whirlpool (for the service you’ve already paid for) because refrigerators use so much power…. AND if Whirlpool didn’t want to pay they would selectively make Whirlpool appliances work badly for you.
In many ways this is exactly what Internet Service Providers like Comcast want to do. They want to charge websites to get full speed delivery to you. In fact, in many ways this is already going on. Did you know Netflix is paying Comcast for a fast connection? Consequently, my streaming from Amazon and Google is comparatively poor.
This is bad in so many ways, but the most obvious is that it will block innovation. In many ways the internet is a great equalizer. It helps even the smallest of companies compete, but those small companies will have a much tougher time if they can’t pay to get into the fast lane.
Everyone who uses the internet needs to take this time to voice their opinion and take a stand against “Cable Company F#*#kery” at
FCC.gov/comments
and don’t forget the CAPS!!!
This should be required viewing: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): Net Neutrality
See also, www.huffingtonpost.com