Introducing the Comcast Tax

[Commentary] The Comcast-Netflix arrangement to deliver streaming video directly into Comcast's physical network is a game-changer: America's largest cable network is building a moat around its system and can now charge connecting networks for the privilege of sending traffic to its users. The Federal Communications Commission needs to get on the case. Otherwise, high-capacity innovative uses of the Internet in US will be subject to an arbitrary Comcast tax. That's the cable model, the walled garden. And that's great for Comcast and its shareholders. But it's not great for the future of US innovation.

[Crawford is John A. Reilly Visiting Professor in Intellectual Property at Harvard Law School and a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute]