Net Neutrality
So the idiotic broadband companies are trying to do away with net neutrality and charge companies like Google for “access to their pipes.” The net effect of this would be that, unless Google paid a company like Verizon a fee, Verizon could slow down your and my access to Google when using Verizon’s lines.
Nevermind that consumers and businesses both pay for access to the Internet—because Verizon and Comcast and SBC don’t do anything exciting except connect us to the Net they feel like they’re missing out on the money that truly innovative companies like Google and Yahoo are making.
Message to Verizon, et al: you guys are like the water company. We need you, but only so much as to make sure that the data is flowing, and then to stay the hell out of our way. We don’t want to hear from you, we don’t want to see you, we just want access to the Internet and for you to do it without interruption or annoyance.
So, as usual, I wrote Senators Boxer and Feinstein. My letter:
Dear Senator Boxer:
At Senate Commerce Committee hearings that began today, broadband providers tried to make a case for a new ability to charge various companies for priority service on their networks. They argued that since companies like Google and Yahoo are making money on the Internet that they should somehow get a piece of that pie. I cannot disagree with this position strongly enough. I firmly believe that if these broadband providers are allowed to do such a thing that they will be the only ones who win out, and meanwhile prices will rise for consumers and other businesses while all of the innovation that the Internet has brought us will be stifled.
I am writing to urge you to vote to support any and all measures that would mandate net neutrality for Internet service providers. I am a small business owner who makes a living creating innovative Internet solutions. California is a state of companies that do the same, and in the process effectively drive the Californian, American, and even global economy. The Internet has always been governed by an implicit principle of net neutrality, and as such has allowed all of the innovations of the fifteen years to happen.
As it currently stands, consumers pay for access to the Internet. Likewise, companies like Google pay for their access to the Internet. Why exactly these broadband companies think that they should be able to impose restrictions or charges on either of those two parties when both are already paying for the service in the first place is beyond me.
As Google has pointed out, the barriers to entry for being an innovative company on the Internet are extremely low– anybody with a good idea and some dedication can create something amazing in their garage– and those barriers are so low almost entirely because of net neutrality. Imposing fees on a company of Google’s size wouldn’t do much to their bottom line, but it would raise that barrier to entry so high that the next Google or Yahoo would probably never be able to get off the ground. When the next amazing thing comes along it may never see the light of day unless net neutrality is maintained.
This issue is of such vital importance to our state, country and economy that I do not think it can be stressed enough. Please do whatever it takes to see that net neutrality is mandated, that prices remain reasonable for everyone, and that innovation can continue to flourish on the Internet.
Sincerely,
Nick Hodulik
