A Net Neutrality Metaphor

A NET NEUTRALITY METAPHOR
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Art Brodsky]
[Commentary] We may be as little as a week away from a vote in the House on Net Neutrality. At this point, it’s uncertain whether there will be a vote on a legitimate Net Neutrality amendment to the bill (HR 5252) that passed the House Commerce Committee. The telephone and cable companies have been going all out to smooth the way by proposing what appears at first to be a reasonable policy, which, on further review, doesn't hold up quite so well. Rachel Maddow on her radio show recently used a nicely descriptive phrase when talking about how politicians phase in gradually policies they don't think would meet with public approval if introduced all at once. The phrase is “boiling the frog.” The metaphor goes like this: If you throw a frog into boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put a frog in warm water, and gradually raise the temperature, it will become acclimated, until it becomes cooked. Gross, but accurate. This is what the telephone companies and their allies who sell them equipment are doing. The metaphor was on display last week when Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke testified before the Senate Commerce Committee. Verizon is not trying to do away with the current Internet, Tauke said. (Water warm). Verizon argues we have had “a real change in the paradigm” in dealing with network issues. (Water warmer.) Through its fiber offering, Verizon will put three separate channels into the consumer’s home, one for the Internet, one for video and one for whatever else Verizon wants to use it for, through its “virtual private network.” (I feel those bubbles.) We want to draw the distinction, Tauke said, between offering Internet services and other access, which would be services for which Verizon “may provide some unique arrangements.” (Rare, medium or well done?) Let’s be clear about what Congress will create in telecommunications legislation. There will be today’s plain “Internet access” and this other, “general access” service equipped with “unique arrangements.” That is a two-tiered system, with the telephone or cable company in complete control.
http://www.publicknowledge.org/

* How Independent Artists Could Lose Their Independent Internet
http://www.voxunion.com/Independent_Artists_and_Independent_Internet.pdf