Should Internet Service Providers be able to decide on your behalf what content is more valuable? For instance, if I decide to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who on the BBC iPlayer, and later decide to watch the highlights of Formula 1 from the ITV website, should my ISP be able to decide that one company will get a faster connection to me than another?
Net Neutrality is (in part) the concept that the Internet is just there to provide infrastructure. Whatever information I request should be delivered to me at the fastest speed possible regardless of content or point of origin [see Wikipedia for a fuller discussion of Net Neutrality]. But some ISPs would rather operate a system where content providers can pay to have their content delivered more quickly than others.
Take this story, for instance, where the CEO of Virgin Media openly states that they are in negotiations to provide a fast-track for providers that pay them for the privilege. Other ISPs, of course, throttle bandwidth based on what you’re doing – some slow down bittorrent connections, some slow down video or audio streaming – but never before has an ISP openly said they’re willing to take payment from companies who want to get information through to Virgin’s customers quickly.
The thing is, does this matter? I’m not too happy about it (being a Virgin Media customer) to have my ISP deciding which of my requests are high priority and which are low priority, but is this just the way the Internet has to go? Will we notice any real difference? Or will we just get used to it and eventually accept it as normal?
What do you think?
