This one’s been at the edge of my vision for some time- I’m recommending all of you take a little time to check this out. Network operators want to charge Internet content providers for enhanced IP services, while Net neutrality proponents say regulations are needed to prevent abuse by the Net’s gatekeepers.

Last year, the phone and cable companies convinced the Federal Communications Commission and the Courts to change how the Internet is operated, making a few unelected officials responsible for a decision with billions of dollars of impact for millions of Internet consumers. These decisions spawned the movement known as “Net Neutrality.”

The Internet was designed by American universities, and made available to the general public over an open platform that required phone and cable companies to treat all traffic in a neutral manner. Now, however, the phone and cable companies boast that they will create premium lanes on the Internet for higher fees, and give preferential access to their own services and those VIPs who can afford to “pay to play.”

This isn’t some fly by night conspiracy theory- it’s really happening, and the coalition agaisnt it already includes heavy hitters like Amazon, eBay, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. Sites like http://www.itsournet.org/’s initiative to ‘educate’ the public and help citizens contact their representitives to put a stop on it seems like the side we the people would be on, wouldn’t it?

There’s another view to the situation that I came across at http://www.dontregulate.org/ - which explains that the net neutrality movement is actually a masthead to push for government regulation of the internet. It suggests that money is the driving factor, and those agaisnt congressional intervention may not really be on our side after all. Either way, upcoming legislature could affect our wallets- and the way the internet works. Do a search for Net Neutrality and gather some info for yourself. I favor cnet and wired news, but there’s a lot more out there worth reading.

Filed under: Geek, Society