This is big. It allows ISPs to control how, for how much and potentially if, you can get the content you want from the Interwebitubes. For example, if viewing a movie online on Netflix starts costing more for a customer than having the disk sent because movies use more bandwidth and get charged at a higher rate by your ISP, fewer people will use it. It might not be cost effective for Netflix to offer the service anymore. Many more examples have been floated.
It will be interesting to see how Google’s proposed gigabit Internet fits into this. If they’re successful, the net neutrality issue of tiered pricing may become moot. Of course, then Google will control your bits.
A U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission overstepped when it cited cable-giant Comcast Corp. for slowing some Internet traffic on its network, dealing a blow to big Web commerce companies and other proponents of “net neutrality.”
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the FCC exceeded its authority when it sanctioned Comcast in 2008 for deliberately preventing some subscribers from using peer-to-peer file-sharing services to download large files.
At stake is how far the FCC can go to dictate the way Internet providers like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. manage traffic on their multibillion-dollar networks. For the past decade or so, the FCC has maintained a mostly hands-off approach to Internet regulation. But that could soon change, likely setting off a prolonged, expensive lobbying battle pitting Web-content providers against Internet-service providers.
