Google Slammed on Net Neutrality
“Net neutrality” is the idea that the Internet remains free and open and will not discriminate on access based on dollar signs. In simplistic terms, this means that you can access my Green Tech Girl website just as easily as you can Microsoft’s. With the advent of video on demand, many companies are looking for ways to deal with increased bandwith consumption, and some of these plans seem to be crossing the line into a bifurcated Internet.
Google has recently come under fire for a plan perceived to threaten net neutrality, though they claim there is confusion over the matter. (Is caching content the same as limiting bandwidth?) While Obama has been quoted as saying he supports net neutrality, considering his major flip-flip on FISA in favor of the telecom companies, we cannot rely on his administration to protect the people’s interests against the telecoms.
Ultimately, a free and open Internet will always be at risk as long as big corporations own the pipes. I remember reading a long time ago an idea that individual users could create their own worldwide “Internet” via peer-to-peer wifi, thus bypassing the big corporations altogether. Will this ever come to pass? Perhaps. Meanwhile, we still need to remain vigilant on the issue of net neutrality. It will be up to the genius of individual developers to come up with a viable Internet that does not require corporate backing or control.
