Don't Undercut Internet Access

DON'T UNDERCUT INTERNET ACCESS
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle 4/17, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] The wide and unbounded Internet could soon be fenced in by cable and phone firms. Higher prices and less choice may lie ahead under a misguided bill moving forward in Congress. A House committee dumped a plan to enforce network neutrality, a clunky term for an important concept. The phrase stands for an original ideal of Internet -- equal access and no hidden charges to climb aboard. down at the consumer level, the impact could be different. Customers could face one set of services offered by a cable or phone company -- or a higher-priced list of alternatives from outsiders. If Yahoo was part of the standard-priced bundle, would you pay more for Google? It would be a two-tier world, not the even-up access that the Internet offers now. New upstarts would have a hard time cracking the lineup, while the familiar names stayed on top. The Internet isn't served by layers of government regulation. But it shouldn't become a captive of one industry. Net neutrality should be a guiding principle to guarantee open use.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/17/EDGNSGUA4F1.DTL