Reality-Based Engineering

From Left In Lowell: Toll Lanes On The Internets?

Say it ain't so, but the big broadband providers could force other portal providers (the Yahoo's, google's and MSNs of the world) to pay for some sort of preferred status...

The Internet has always been a model of freedom. Today the Web is flourishing because anyone can click to any site or download any service they want on an open network. But now the phone and cable companies that operate broadband networks have a different vision. If they get their way, today’s Information Highway could be laden with tollgates, express lanes, and traffic tie-ups — all designed to make money for the network companies.
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INTERNET FIEFDOMS? Most phone and cable companies are no longer content just to sell Web access to consumers. After investing in high-speed pipes, they also want to peddle more lucrative products, such as Internet-delivered TV programs, movies, and phone calls. “Building these networks is expensive,” says Link Hoewing, vice-president for Internet policy at Verizon Communications (VZ). “If I can find new ways to pay for this network, it’s gravy for everyone.”

But selling those extras puts the phone and cable companies in competition with Web services big and small. The network operators could block consumers from popular sites such as Google, Amazon, or Yahoo! (YHOO) in favor of their own. Or they could degrade delivery of Web pages whose providers don’t pay extra. Google’s home page, for instance, might load at a creep, while a search engine backed by the network company would zip along.

“This new view of the world will break apart the Internet and turn it into small fiefdoms” divided between the network providers’ friends and foes, says Vonage Chief Executive Jeffrey Citron.

LOBBYING HEFT. That’s just crying wolf, retort the Bell and cable operators. The Web companies’ push for rules requiring “network neutrality is a solution in search of a problem,” says Daniel Brenner, senior vice-president for regulatory policy at the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn.

But recent court and regulatory rulings have given the carriers more room to discriminate. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cable broadband services were almost free of regulation. Two months later, the FCC granted the same liberty to the Bells’ broadband services. The FCC made two newly merged megaphone companies — created from AT&T (T) and SBC Communications and Verizon and MCI (MCIP) — vow to keep their Internet lines open to all for the next two years. But FCC Chairman Kevin Martin favors a light regulatory touch until he sees widespread abuse by the networks.

Lawmakers updating the telecom laws are more likely to act. The House Commerce Committee will probably vote early next year on whether to require Net neutrality. And while Google and its Internet brethren are the darlings of Wall Street and a Web-wild public, these New Economy powerhouses could find themselves outgunned in Washington. After decades as regulated carriers, the Old Tech phone and cable companies employ legions of lobbyists and funnel hefty checks into Congress’s campaign coffers. Google, by contrast, just hired Davidson, its first lobbyist, in June.
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WINNERS AND LOSERS? But express lanes for certain bits could give network providers a chance to shunt other services into the slow lane, unless they pay up. A phone company could tell Google or another independent Web service that it must pay extra to ensure speedy, reliable service.

That could result in an Internet of haves, who can afford to pay the network operators more to ensure smooth service, and have-nots. Trouble is, those have-nots may include the Next Big Thing — whether it be mom-and-pop podcasting or video blogging. The fewer innovative services on the Net, the less reason Web users have to want broadband. Both the network operators and the Internet could lose out in the end.

posted by jimboses @ 11:17 PM