Stop Moaning About "NET NEUTRALITY" -- Of Course ISPs Should Be Able To Charge Higher Rates For Premium Traffic

The latest of these causes, "net neutrality," calls for Internet Service Providers to be legally forced to treat every bit sent over the Internet the same as every other bit--i.e., be prevented from offering "premium" tiers in which some folks can pay to have their bits delivered faster than other bits.

The Silicon Valley champion, Google, has long stumped for this concept. And Google is now being savaged for apparently betraying that stance and becoming "evil" by discussing a premium-tier deal with Verizon.

Now, it's easy to see why poor startups and massive bandwidth consumers might prefer that ISPs be forced to treat every bit the same. But from a moral and economic fairness perspective, this stance is ridiculous.

ISPs spend billions of dollars building fiber networks. Why on earth shouldn't they be able to charge what the market will bear to deliver bits over those networks? If people want their bits delivered quickly and securely, they can pay more. If they don't, they can pay less. It's as simple (and fair) as that.

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(From the "Silicon Alley Insider" blog post. Thanks to Henry Blodget.)