Net Neutrality

I guess I should do a public service at least within the family and mention that if anyone tries to sell you a bill of goods about how net neutrality is somehow a bad thing or is imposing regulation where it shouldn't or some such bullshit, please don't let them. I liked Craig Newmark's (of Craig's List fame) description of it:

Let's say you call Joe's Pizza and the first thing you hear is a message saying you'll be connected in a minute or two, but if you want, you can be connected to Pizza Hut right away. That's not fair, right? You called Joe's and want some Joe's pizza. Well, that's how some telecommunications executives want the Internet to operate, with some Web sites easier to access than others. For them, this would be a money-making regime.

You really want to trust Craig on this one. Personally, I'm of the opinion that anything the telephone and cable companies are so hot to trot over can't be anything but bad for me. And per what seems to be standard practice these days, they've spawned a bevy of friendly sounding sham organizations to make their message more palatable and to sucker you into thinking they're only thinking of your interests. Some of my favorites for the sheer chutzpah:

• Consumers for Cable Choice
• FreedomWorks
• Progress and Freedom Foundation
• Internet Innovation Alliance
• Hands Off the Internet
• NetCompetition.org
• Video Access Alliance

Contrary to opinions in some quarters, the Internet is not a series of tubes. We're already paying to get on the Internet. We shouldn't be paying more depending on where we want to go on it, and the people who are serving up the things we use it for should not be separated into first class, second class, and steerage.