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Corporations battle over internet control { May 18 2006 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/business/14604563.htmhttp://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/business/14604563.htm
Posted on Thu, May. 18, 2006
Corporations battling over future of the Internet
SUDEEP REDDY
Knight Ridder Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON - They predict the end of the Internet as we know it, an online world shaped by big network providers at the expense of start-ups and individual users.
Consumer groups and some of the world's largest technology firms are raising fears that phone and cable companies, which provide most online access, will transform the Internet by choosing which sites get the highest priority and fastest access to consumers.
The battle for "network neutrality" by opponents of the largest telecom firms has generated little policy so far.
But the fight, guided by a surprising coalition ranging from the Gun Owners of America to the liberal MoveOn.org, has become one of the loudest technology debates in Washington with its search for guarantees that Web sites won't be blocked or impaired.
Some lawmakers are baffled by how a nebulous concern about Internet access has gained traction with little evidence that there's a problem.
Telecom giants such as AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp., backed by their own legions of supporters, are fighting to prevent new rules from being added just as lawmakers try to unwind old ones.
"Technology moves faster than legislation," said Bartlett Cleland of the Institute for Policy Innovation, a think tank that wants less regulation. "It seems the only thing they could do is something damaging."
Big Internet names such as Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have led the fight, and even Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has joined the lobbying effort. They've been opposed by a competing coalition of major telecom firms and trade groups that want less government involvement in the Internet.
Supporters of net neutrality say that deregulation, with court rulings and decisions by the Federal Communications Commission, has opened the door for telecom firms to wield greater control over their networks.
Several companies have hinted at their hopes to draw additional revenue with "enhanced services."
In theory, an Internet provider could give some Web sites faster access to consumers or block competing services based on which provider is willing to pay the most. Such a move would fundamentally alter the open access that has shaped the Internet.
Consumer groups and many lawmakers say the effect would be chilling, turning away small companies and ultimately forcing consumers to pay extra online.
"There's no way you can create a toll road without creating a dirt road," said Jeannine Kenney, a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union.
"This isn't a fight between Google and Time Warner and AT&T," she said. "This is about ultimately the higher costs that consumers are going to pay."
Proponents of network neutrality differ on what they want.
Most say that no Web sites or services should be impaired, though providers could charge more - as they do today - for a consumer to access all sites at a higher speed.
Some emergency services already get special treatment over the Internet.
And few people would object to giving priority to health care services for monitoring diabetes patients over the Internet or giving a neurosurgeon high-priority access to brain scans.
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