The Nation is currently running an article about internet service provider’s ability to control content, and their willingness to do so. What the piece foretells is a PPC (pay per content not pay per click) world were sites that attract a lot of traffic would have to pay ISPs for the use of the pipeline. This would have one of two effects, either traffic hogs (Google) would have to pass the fees on to users or advertisers. Google VP Vinton G. Cerf stated that this "would do great damage to the Internet as we know it." This article sounds a little far fetched, until you begin to look at the warning signs that have been popping up lately
Verizon trys to charge Google for access : Verizon is beginning to set aside up to 80% of its consumer pipeline for its own TV service, the reason stated has to do with maximizing ROI on network instillations. Content providers would then have to compete for space as consumers expect more and more. ISP's could potentially alter the quality or quantity of the content from any online source to its' user base
For Example "Customers of Apple's iTunes music store, say, might find their downloads slowed down, or blocked completely, if Apple refuses to pay a transaction fee to their ISP. Users of the Vonage Internet phone service might lose their dial tones if their Internet provider wants to sell its own brand of phone service."
"When you introduce discrimination of any kind, it's anti-innovative," says David Isenberg, a networking pioneer who is currently a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
And Finally, "BellSouth and Verizon have been trying to force big Web sites to pay extortion-type fees if the sites want adequate bandwidth, with Google a prime target. But Google has news for them: It won't pay". At least for now.
All this comes on the heels of an OTO Insights post a few days ago. Yahoo! search is currently blocking paid search content from competitors in partner SBC's footprint. Is this the beginning of the end of internet neutrality?
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