I’m so tired of reading about net neutrality. Every day I see a new article about how Internet providers such as Comcast are going to charge different fees for access to only certain parts of the Internet. It’s the latest in scare tactics. It’s a way to create a buzz and get people riled up.
Net neutrality is important. I don’t believe Internet traffic should be completely controlled. But to say that all you will be able to get on the Internet by 2012 if you’re using Comcast is eBay, Disney and Comcast.net is ludicrous. This will never happen, and here are a few reasons why.
Devices we use
The devices we use like our laptop and cell phone rely on full access to the Internet to function. The whole mobile device market would collapse if we didn’t have access to the widgets on our devices. Not to mention devices like Tivo and video game consoles. Too much money is at stake. If all Internet providers were to cut the cord, these companies would find an alternate way to provide full Internet access.
Companies rely on it
Lots of people work from home now. They have to access their corporate VPN’s as well as various web sites to get their job done. Even sites like LockerGnome that feature many helpful tips need to be accessed while working from time to time. Imagine if the company you work for couldn’t access half of the resources and helpful data on the Internet. Productivity would drop to a crawl and corporations would not stand for it.
People wouldn’t pay for it
Who on Earth would pay to only access a a handful of web sites? Find me one person that would love to pay a certain amount for just a few web sites. It’s not profitable for Internet providers to shut certain sites out unless it affects network performance, i.e. torrent sites.