Begin forwarded message:
From: h_bray@xxxxxxxxx
Date: June 1, 2006 11:15:37 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Another Net Neutrality question...
...this one asked in my role as tech reporter.  I'm doing a story  
on the
matter.  It'll be straight down the middle, no sides taken.  But   
there's an
aspecr of this issue that I haven't seen addressed, and I'm hoping the
hypersmart people on the list can tidy it up for me.
We keep talking about a two-tiered Internet.  I may have helped   
establish
that meme with a story I did on this issue a couple months ago.   
But is
that really what's happening?  Can't one just as easily argue that the
"premium" broadband tier isn't really the Internet at all?
Imagine that Verizon, without using the "I" word, had decided to  
build a
new high-speed private data network to millions of homes.  They'd  
use this
network to carry TV signals, as well as a variety of computer data
services.  The network would use TCP/IP technology, but would run  
entirely
over Verizon's prvately owned hardware.
If Verizon had done such a thing, would anyone argue that the  
company  was
obligated to share this network with others, without charging them  
usage
fees?  Wouldn't we shrug and say that since Verizon spent the billions
needed to build the network, they could do with it as they pleased?
But this is pretty much what's happening now, isn't it?  This  
second  tier
of Internet service is really more like a private network.  It's  
not so
much a bifurcation of the Internet, but a complete departure from it.
Looked at that way, why shouldn't the broadband providers charge  
use  fees
to other data services?
Hiawatha Bray
Technology Reporter
Boston Globe
135 Morrissey Blvd.
P.O. Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819 USA
617-929-3119 voice
617-929-3183 fax
617-233-9419 cell
bray@xxxxxxxxx
watha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Recent writings: www.boston.com/business/technology/bray
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