FTC abandons Net Neutrality

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided to abandon net neutrality and allow telecoms companies to charge websites for access.

The FTC said in a report that, despite popular support for net neutrality, it was minded to let the market sort out the issue.

This means that the organisation will not stand in the way of companies using differential pricing to make sure that some websites can be viewed more quickly than others. The report also counsels against net neutrality legislation.

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http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/21...net-neutrality



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Well, there goes the neighborhood. :uhoh:

I guess money really does talk in Washington and lobbyists money talks even louder.

Regards,

Lee

It will be interesting to see what consumer pressure there will be on the ISP's to keep all download speeds the same regardless of which website is being accessed. I'd certainly rather have a "fair" ISP. Also, would an ISP charge a higher rate to customers getting equitable download speeds?

So why do the Microsoft Corporation and Google Corporation deserve special government protections to their business? Are these small family business who need cash or a leg up?

Net Neutrality is pitched as a warm and fuzzy protection to everybody, but in the end, it is about cash rich businesses like Microsoft.com or Google.com not having to pay, or worry about paying, ISP's to carry their bandwidth.

"Net Neutrality" is essentially a code word for corporate welfare.

And in every single case, government design of rates and pricing ALWAYS produce worse results then what the market otherwise would create. Two immediate example that come to mind is our government's protections to the sugar industry --- as it is against the law to sell sugar below an established price. And even better --- our corn industry, as Congressional laws regarding ethanol subsidies and "incentives" have caused the price of corn to skyrocket.

Don't be fooled - Net Neutrality equals more government oversight and control into businesses like ours (and you want that why?) and essentially is nothing but corporate welfare to protect established big businesses like Google or Microsoft.

Steve