TWiT Discusses Net Nuetraility

This Week in Tech (TWiT), hosted by Leo Laporte, had a great discussion on Net Nuetrality during show 60, posted July 2nd. Of particular interest was the playing of part of a speech from Senator Ted Stevens [transcript] [audio] (R - Alaska). According to Mr. Stevens, he wants business to pay data providers a tax based on savings throught the use of the Internet. His example was services such as NetFlix, and that if movies are to be delivered via the Internet instead of mail, that an additional fee should be charged (above the bandwidth fee already being paid to deliver the movie).

Here are the comments I posted on the TWiT website:

It was great that you gave so much time to Net Neutrality -- you really helped me gain additional clarity on the real issue, and I have been following it for several months now. I beleive the goal of the data providers is to tax content providers, it was never about the home user. The data providers see all the revenue being generated using their pipes, and they want part of it. This is like the water and electrical utilities asking for an additional tax of every business they provide services to.

We should also consider businesses that have remote employees. Will there be an additional tax to the data providers so that you can have employees work from home? If you listened to Ted Stevens, since your business has traditionally paid for office space for you, and now you work at home, the data providers deserve a share of the savings. (This is the same as the data providers wanting part of your savings if you deliver movies over the Internet instead of the current method through the mail service.)

Has anyone considered the implications to businesses in general? Today my company provides a rich web site for support. As consumers, we rely highly on vendor websites for downloads and help. My point is that we hear about Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google having to pay a higher fee, but every company will potentially suffer from this. The very thing that the Internet offered, lower cost to do business, is going to be impacted by this. (Remember, if your start up business can run more effeciently using the Internet than traditional bricks and mortar and postal service, then the data providers want a piece of your savings.)

For the argument over speed to the home, and the claim that the network can no longer support the number of users, the data providers should have never sold the service if they cannot deliver. I'm with John, we need a class action suit against these guys.