TNR on Net Neutrality

An excellent editorial from The New Republic that highlights the dangers of undoing neutrality on the Internet and allowing the telecoms to charge sites for delivering their content. And it comes just as the issue is heading to the Senate. I know my senators and representative stand favor neutrality, but there was no shortage of Democrats who opposed it in the House, and we need every vote we can get. It's an economic issue, a political issue, and a moral issue that isn't getting anywhere near the attention it deserves. If it did, the telecoms' plans would be DOA, just as they should be.

Imagine you were choosing whether to buy a book from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble's website, and you knew that Amazon's site would load much faster, allowing you to scan books and sample their content much more easily. Or imagine that Fox.com's streaming video came up instantly and CNN.com's balked. Or that whitehouse.gov loaded quickly while the site of a contentious political magazine was plagued by delays. That is what your Internet experience could be like if Congress doesn't require the big cable and telephone companies that control access to the Web to observe what is called "net neutrality."

Recommended reading.