Net Neutrality - Why Every SEO & Small Business Should Care

[thejenn]

Authored by: Bretton Jones

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/art.../0519_rc1.html

A Snippet:

Net Neutrality, as an issue, has come about as the result of the large telecoms claiming that while providing internet service, they have the right to limit bandwidth or block access to web sites that don't pay them a premium to access their networks.

[BKCB]

I agree with everything Brentton Jones said in the article. I hope everyone in the Search Marketing Industry realizes the ramifications of the Telcom's getting their way on this. Verizon is spending big bucks on Fiber To The Premise (FTTP), aka FiOS, and they are going to want to make as much profit as they can, anyway they can, in my opinion.

I have a quote from an article entitled: "Lehman: Verizon may want to rethink FTTP" which says: "Verizon's FTTP initiative, which has now passed more than 3 million homes and businesses in 16 states, cost the company $1 billion in free cash flow in 2005, Bath said in the note. That cost could double this year, he said, draining another $1 billion to $2 billion per year through 2010. AT&T's investment in FTTN (Fiber-To-The-Node), meanwhile, is "smaller and more concentrated," Bath wrote, perhaps totaling $6 billion and ending in 2008, when it could begin to generate free cash flow."

See entire article at = http://telephonyonline.com/fttp/news...n_fttp_010406/

[Logan]

... so far it isn't looking good for the future of net neutrality.

In a 269-152 vote that fell largely along party lines, the House Republican leadership mustered enough votes to reject a Democrat-backed amendment that would have enshrined stiff net neutrality regulations into federal law and prevented broadband providers from treating some Internet sites differently from others.

ZD Net

I'm curious if anyone is concerned about the impact this may have. Can anyone explain why net neutrality isn't a good thing. I'm sure there is logic on both sides of the coin, but I'm having a difficult time grasping why its going by the wayside. Do you think it is just because of the big corps pull? Or is not having net neutrality somthing that could be a good thing.