One Topic at a Time Today: Net Neutrality

Looks like the lobbyists for the cable and big telco companies are winning the hearts and minds in Washington on the net neutrality issue. What does this really mean? It means that Comcast can decide to block access to Google, Yahoo! or whatever service it likes unless the content providers pay for the traffic that their users (who also pay Comcast) generate. Chances are it will take some time for the Comcasts and Verizons to realize that they need the content to sell their Internet service. Otherwise it's not better than the brain-dead AOL BBS stuff of old.

Right. For a network whose core was built with government money? The ignorance of lawmakers continues to baffle me. The Google CEO posted a blurb about it, the Washington Post has an article about it (reg req'd), but the bill was apparently defeated anyways. CIO Magazine laments its failure here.