The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet

If you don't have a log on for wapo use bugmenot because this article is a must read, for anybody on the internet. Which includes you! :)

ISPs are trying to get content providers to subsidize the bandwidth, and Congress is considering overhauling the Telecommunications act of 1996. An example is a nickel PER iTunes download from Apple. Another potential example, yahoo pays the pipe owner, to "optimize" the connection from the ISP customers, and then google loads slowly. This is something that definitely needs to be kept an eye on.

Just looking at who's on which side, leads me to believe this is a classic David and Goliath (except we have google, and Apple maybe? on David's side). The ONLY way I'd consider this, is if it reduced my cable bill, SERIOUSLY. But, I have to wonder how bittorrents would be affected. By the way, I was getting over 800KB downloaded with 2 twit video feeds!!! Nice!

--MissM
article link here (for RSS ;) )

Update: I was reminded of Doc Searle's essay about keeping the internet pipes consumer friendly and the perils of not, its long, but important. Saving the Net: How to Keep the Carriers from Flushing the Net Down the Tubes | Linux Journal