Google/Verizon to ruin Internet

That assumes a fluid marketplace. The barriers to entry in the ISP industry make competition scarce in many areas.

 

Not many. Maybe some remote places, but I don't think Google or Verizon is worried about monopolizing Internet traffic in East Bumblefool, Kansas.

 

Like here, where your options for high-speed Internet is cable or AT&T U-Verse. Period.

So if they both make side deals I don't like, I'll be back on dial-up.

 

Well, if it really all does break down like a cable TV deal, then you couldn't easily watch (read) the New York evening news (New York Times) from Kansas City. The easiest thing for you would be to be directed to your local source. Which, would hopefully be the newspaper.

I've always thought newspapers could get paid similar to how cable TV channels do (not to start a much larger conversation about all this), and maybe this is a way that could happen.

 

Until she got a mobile broadband card recently, my mom's options for high speed internet were the cable company and DirecTV's horrible service. She refused to deal with the cable co (long story) so she suffered with dial-up until she couldn't take it anymore. And she does NOT live in East Bumblefool. We need more choice, not less. This is bad news.

 

Think of the Chinese government's decision to block all pictures of the Tienmien Square tank man...

This would be one direction in which corporations would be able to control the message.

Sure, Uncle Joe's Blog might just be personal musings. It might have weekly updated photos. However, Uncle Joe's Blog is important to Uncle Joe's family who likes to read Uncle Joe and finds him funnier with less references to the Karate Kid than Bill Simmons.

Look at some of the sites you load for soccer news. Sure, I check soccernet.com but I also go to FakeSigi. I doubt you have any auspices that FakeSigi would be ponying up cash so that his blog could load faster.

 

Say good-bye to any and all file sharing. BitTorrent will be finished. Any other p2p program you can also forget about. And in the case of binary newsgroups, they'll torpedo access to those as well. Regardless of what you think about what goes on in those data streams, a lot of legitimate software and document distribution is done through those means.

Also watch out for your IM software. If Google has a deal with Verizon and you're on Verizon's network I'm going go out on a limb and say that MSN, Skype or AOL is not going to work as well as G-Talk.

 

This isn't about Verizon users getting Google search results or YouTube clips to load faster. What's the real motivation for Google to do this?

 

Seriously?

 

The same reason most companies do anything - $$$.

 

Yes it is. If you load faster then you'll have more people accessing. More traffic means more advertising dollars. Then you have the ability to control the flow of information. Just as Google adjusted its search engine so that those who've paid land at the top.

 

You guys are way over estimating the impact of net neutrality. It's not a huge boogie man in the corner trying to shut off access to information. It's about opening up space for people who actually use their broadband for internet, email, etc. People who are monopolizing broadband with massive downloads and uploads to bit torrent, online gaming and other space suckers are going to have to pay more to be able to do that. I have no problem with that.

If a company starts doing what you are proposing -- cutting off gmail if yahoo pays for it, not allowing you to access unapproved sites -- the market will correct. When it came to internet access, I had two options - cable or ATT. Other places have three options - cable, att or verizon. If those companies start doing all the "evil" things you are proposing, more options will emerge.

However, if net neutrality speeds up my connection by blocking software thieves and online gamers, all the better. Online gamers can play a premium, thieves can too. I don't do those things, so I don't need to pay a premium. Right now, even though I don't do those things, part of my bill goes to supporting expansions of an overloaded network that is unnecessary.

Net neutrality is a bad thing that screws over everyone. Allowing tiered internet opens up better use for everyone. You don't think your cable company is evil because you can't get HBO in your basic cable package do you? Think of online gaming as the HBO of the internet. Those who want it will pay for it. Those who don't, won't have to pay for it.

Right now, the internet operates more like the YES network. Don't want to pay extra to watch the Yankees? Tough luck. You have to pay extra no matter if you watch the Yankees or not. THAT is evil.