Another view of "net neutrality"

ANOTHER VIEW OF "NET NEUTRALITY"
[SOURCE: Skype Journal, AUTHOR: Hudson Barton]
[Commentary] Net Neutrality proponents sometime make an analogy to a highway with a UPS truck and a Wal-Mart truck where the UPS truck is serving a public purpose while the Walmart truck is serving a private purpose. Unfortunately, the analogy is not helpful at all. It presupposes a world where there are just a few trucks and one highway, and I maintain it is exactly the world that the proponents of "net neutrality" hope will develop. It is a world of scarcity, controlled by a few big telecoms, cablecos and ISPs. "Net neutrality" is just a cover for the market protection that these big companies will receive in exchange for their commitment to a certain fairness doctrine. As a result, Internet service will look increasingly like a public utility. It does not take a big company to be an Internet carrier any more than it does to provide Internet content. The current debate reveals the real intent of "net neutrality" lobbyists... to destroy the very competition that it purports to protect, to reward the mediocre at the expense of the excellent.
http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/2006/03/barton_another_view_of...