This time, they’re back with another hit: Net Neutrality, Nixed. Not surprisingly, they’re siding with corporations on net neutrality — it’s SO democratic (I mean, it’s such an obvious way to undermine what is now a true free market of information dissemination) I could just throw up. Yeah, I *totally* trust them to regulate fairness, don’t you? Snip:
The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.
The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to “Net neutrality,” the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user.
Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others.
The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the “entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers,” the agency said in its filing.
Like you think that Google and Microsoft (most vocal supporters of Net Neutrality) have your best interests at heart? Now that Google has been quietly buying up dark fibre, you can bet they will be quietly changing their tune on net neutrality.
This is one example where the Justice Dept. has it right. You pay extra to ensure a seat on a flight, you pay extra to ensure that the Post Office delivers your mail and/or delivers it faster. You should be able to pay extra for higher network bandwidth too. Are you opposed to 911 calls delivered over IP getting priority on the net?