Pipes are dumb. Anyone who needs to have plumbing work done knows that plumbers are not dumb, but it is safe to say that the pipes themselves are dumb. A pipe does not know if it carries drinking water or waste water, it just carries it blindly to and fro. Such is the case with the pipes that carry information on the Internet, they are dumb.
There are efforts under way to animate these dumb pipes, these highways of information, by adding tolls, taxes, fees, and charges. Telecom companies have been seeking to charge high use content providers, such as Google, more money in return for allowing them to cut in line, have their own lane, or make sure no one gets in their way as they speedily deliver their Google videos, news and whatnots. It might appear as an innocent proposition where the telecommunication giants can seek some additional revenue, but unfortunately it may prove disastrous for innovation and diversity in America.
The Internet is now run on what is known as ‘net neutrality’: dumb pipes carrying information. Carriers are not supposed to allow information to cut in line, or get special treatment. This concept of ‘net neutrality’ allows for equality. Specifically, abandoning net neutrality might cause you to stop reading The Journal because it is in the slow lane. It might also stop you from discovering many other sites you find informative, entertaining or useful because they too are in the slow lane. Any websites offering games, music or video would be particularly hard hit if they could not afford to pay for fast lane service.
Google has always been a supporter of net neutrality, as has President-elect Barak Obama, but it is no longer in their self-interest. Having in a relatively short time dominated the search engine market, Google now wants to close the door on any competition. The telecommunication companies are eager to participate in creating a two, three, or four tier Internet in the pursuit of more profit, and the only drawbacks will be less diversity, less innovation, and the creation of more entities that are ‘too big to fail’.
While Barak Obama’s devotion to campaign finance reform may have been fleeting, it is too early to say if his passion for net neutrality will also wane. Abandoning this policy will create an Internet dominated by news, videos, music and games controlled by corporations with enough money to get their content in the fast lane. Support for net neutrality has created some strange bedfellows, from the ACLU to the Christian Coalition, and readers find out what other groups are actively working to support net neutrality at SaveTheInternet.com.
Watch the video below for an interesting, and amusing, overview of the plumbing behind the Internet and what could happen.