Republicans against free Internet

[ponderingturtle]

Because it's not the job of the ISP to pick winners and losers of internet commerce, it is to connect their customer to any web site they wish to visit. Just like FedEx doesn't charge Amazon more than any other company, they all pay the same rate.

They are common carriers, and their infrastructure is located on public property and subsidized by taxpayers.

So you don't think amazon negotiated lower rates due do the extent of the business they do? You see that in the USPS as mass mailing don't pay the same for their postage that you do.

Is it wrong to give better treatment to clients who pay for it? That is what this is about, not censorship. You can get any content, it is just that the content makers who do not pay for it get standard treatment and those who pay for it get preferential treatment.

 

[Newtons Bit]

So you don't think amazon negotiated lower rates due do the extent of the business they do? You see that in the USPS as mass mailing don't pay the same for their postage that you do.

I think it's pretty obvious Amazon does this.

Is it wrong to give better treatment to clients who pay for it? That is what this is about, not censorship. You can get any content, it is just that the content makers who do not pay for it get standard treatment and those who pay for it get preferential treatment.

The concern is that the "standard" treatment will render many streaming video or audio services inoperable. Without any competition in the ISP market (it's a duopoly at best in most areas) the consumer does not get a choice as to which content he can access, he's entirely at the mercy of the monopoly. In a very open and competitive market there'd be no need for net neutrality.

I think your phone company example is good analogy for this. Imagine if the land-line phone companies starting giving "preferential" to a specific pizza delivery joint by returning a busy signal for all other pizza joints. The end-user is then discouraged from using their preferred pizza delivery company because of a deal they were not party to and cannot influence. (This example really only applies in the days before cell phones were ubiquitous).

This is different than the Amazon example as the end-user is Amazon. The consumer isn't forced into using Amazon by this deal. Other large internet shopping sites can make deals with a shipping company, or they can find other ways to make their product competitive.