Tollbooths on the Internet Highway

[SOURCE: New York Times 2/20, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] When you use the Internet today, your browser glides from one Web site to another, accessing all destinations with equal ease. That could change dramatically, however, if Internet service providers are allowed to tilt the playing field, giving preference to sites that pay them extra and penalizing those that don't. The Senate held hearings last week on "network neutrality," the principle that Internet Service Providers should not be able to stack the deck in this way. If the Internet is to remain free, and freely evolving, it is important that neutrality legislation be passed. If access tiering takes hold, the Internet providers, rather than consumers, could become the driving force in how the Internet evolves. Those corporations' profit-driven choices, rather than users' choices, would determine which sites and methodologies succeed and fail. They also might be able to stifle promising innovations, like Internet telephony, that compete with their own business interests. Some ISPs are phone and cable companies that make large campaign contributions, and are used to getting their way in Washington. But Americans feel strongly about an open and free Internet. Net neutrality is an issue where the public interest can and should trump the special interests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/opinion/20mon1.html
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See also --
The Case Against a Neutral Net
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: J. Gregory Sidak, Georgetown University]
[Commentary] Former American Enterprise Institute Telecommunications Deregulation Project Director J. Gregory Sidak argues against “net neutrality.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6308550.html?display=Opinion
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