The end of weblogs, the end of the Internet

April 25, 2006

In Internet parlance, “Net Neutrality” means the underlying infrastructure of the Internet doesn’t care where traffic is coming from or where it is going; it all gets routed from originating location to destination. It’s been a guiding principle of the Internet, but now it’s under threat.

TelCos want the right to prioritize some traffic over others; essentially creating fast-and-slow lanes for content. Nevermind that the infrastructure to do this would be a royal pain in the tuchas. Make no mistake: this is not intended to speed up the Internet. It’s intended to throttle traffic the Telcos don’t want to service — like that on competing networks. It will, in fact, throw the Internet (in America at least) back into the balkanized past of AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy.

Most of us using independent publishing online will be squeezed out, of course, if we have to pay for the fast lane; or we’ll be squeezed *into* a publishing system that could take control — and even ownership — of our content.

Don’t let your representatives in Congress do this. “Save the Internet”:http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/. Ask politely. Most of them probably don’t understand the issue beyond the “marketing bamboozlement of the Industry heavies”:http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2006/04/24/former-clinton-spin-doctor-now-on-payroll-to-kill-internet-freedom/.

Posted in Blogosphere, Technology