There's nothing more depressing than when a trusted friend breaks a promise. Particularly, when that friend is so massive that they have the ability to un-democratize the internet almost single-handedly and are not, in fact, your friend, but a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Email Chairman Julius Genachowski: HERE . Tell him you want real Net Neutrality and Sign the petition to tell Google to be less evil HERE
Follow Sam Seder on Twitter: www.twitter.com/samseder
First, the primary infrastructure was paid for and is currently maintained with tax payer dollars, not by Verizon and not by Google.
Second, it means these corporate giants will be using the infrastructure that we paid for to introduce a filter between the user and the Internet. You want people to be able to download your Web content? Fine, here is a brand new fee you have to pay to them that will determine what speed your content will download at.
This means that companies that were able to start up with little to nothing and thrive based on their merits, like Facebook, YouTube, FunnyorDie, Huffington Post, would die before they got started, since they would need to be able to pay huge sums outright in order for people to access their content.
And if an organization like News Corporation got an upper hand, as they did when the Republicans relaxed the FCC rules concerning ownership in traditional media, you can say goodbye to the expression of dissenting political opinions. Sites like the Huffington Post won't be able to generate enough revenue to pay for anything above a download speed of 1 kbs.
This ploy has been tried in the past, and it is one of many reasons that we need to enshrine net neutrality in federal statutes. This is a simple thing. Write to your Congressional representatives and tell them that this is BS.
.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/12/892044/-End-of-the-Internet-As-We-Know-It!
Oh Google - please don't break your promise. See it through, for the good of all internet users - may it be consumers or companies.
But what they don't tell you is those who CAN PAY include the providers of that content we enjoy now.
If there is a second tier established, those PROVIDERS of content we now enjoy will be encouraged to move into the premium tier that Google and Verizon want to establilsh. There is a financial incentive for them to do so.
The rest will be stuck with QVC level wireless garbage. Then we are back to the days of Bell Telephone hoping for the Government to break up big wireless companies.