Re:Cato Institute: The Case Against Net Neutrality
by grandalf on Thursday December 23, 2010 @12:49PM
(#2035160)
I think the key point is that customers are very different and that currently "broadband" is sold as a single type of product.
The person who downloads a few songs and videos and checks email wants a very different product from the person who is constantly uploading torrents.
Net neutrality is mostly just FUD though b/c with the exception of protocols that specifically exploit "shared bandwidth" pricing, it's unlikely to impact anyone (since consumers do like choice). Even my google/bing example is quite farfetched, b/c it's not likely worth enough to Google to subsidize bandwidth just to get search clicks, and in any case Comcast could sell Google analytics data without having to restrict anyone's choices.
The person who downloads a few songs and videos and checks email wants a very different product from the person who is constantly uploading torrents.
Net neutrality is mostly just FUD though b/c with the exception of protocols that specifically exploit "shared bandwidth" pricing, it's unlikely to impact anyone (since consumers do like choice). Even my google/bing example is quite farfetched, b/c it's not likely worth enough to Google to subsidize bandwidth just to get search clicks, and in any case Comcast could sell Google analytics data without having to restrict anyone's choices.