Et tu, Google?

[charlie]

Disheartening overview of how net neutrality is losing steam as its most powerful corporate advocates quietly cut preferential deals for themselves. Even Lawrence Lessig(!) is unbothered about the prospect of a tiered-service Web:

Google's proposed arrangement with network providers, internally called OpenEdge, would place Google servers directly within the network of the service providers, according to documents reviewed by the Journal. The setup would accelerate Google's service for users. Google has asked the providers it has approached not to talk about the idea, according to people familiar with the plans.

...

Microsoft, which appealed to Congress to save network neutrality just two years ago, has changed its position completely. "Network neutrality is a policy avenue the company is no longer pursuing," Microsoft said in a statement. The Redmond, Wash., software giant now favors legislation to allow network operators to offer different tiers of service to content companies.

...

Yahoo now has a digital subscriber-line partnership with AT&T. Some have speculated that the deal has caused Yahoo to go silent on the network-neutrality issue.

...

But some of those who advise the new president on technology have changed their view on network neutrality. Stanford's Mr. Lessig, for one, has softened his opposition to variable service tiers. At a conference, he argued that carriers won't become kingmakers so long as the faster service at a higher price is available to anyone willing to pay it.

"There are good reasons to be able to prioritize traffic," Mr. Lessig said later in an interview. "If everyone had to pay the same rates for postal service, than you wouldn't be able to differentiate between sending a greeting card to your grandma versus sending an overnight letter to your lawyer."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122929270127905065.html

[charlie]

1. Update

Google says the WSJ is full of beans, doesn't understand Edge Caching, and they're as committed to net neutrality as ever:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/12/net-neutrality-and-benefits-of-caching.html

Lawrence Lessig says his position hasn't changed one iota and again, the WSJ is full of it:

http://lessig.org/blog/2008/12/the_madeup_dramas_of_the_wall.html

The story was bogus sensationalism. Apologies.

[RoyGBiv]

2. Well, it was the WSJ ...

I wasn't sure, but I had an inkling they were distorting positions in order to put forth the idea that net neutrality isn't something we need trouble ourselves over. The WSJ has an interest in passing off such stories.

Having said that, I'm not optimistic. Internet providers are trying very hard to turn themselves into content providers, which is really what all this means. They look to the day of advertisements that can announce how their link to ESPN is faster and gives you more access than the "other guy's" link. They want to sell packages of subscriptions to various sites with ramped up speed to those sites while "shaping" traffic for free sites and competitors so that one is pretty well driven to the pay service.

They've used several avenues for this so far, none of them really working well because the explosion of interest in the Internet took place in such an environment of freedom that the people using it today pretty well demand it and will settle for nothing less. But, that's changing as more and more people begin using the Internet without even being aware they doing anything but turning on a device. As one really, really dumb ad that was posted somewhere around here the other day put it, "It's MAGIC!" And that's what people think of it. It's just magic.

There was a day when the word "bandwidth" actually meant something to those who were utilizing it. Now, it's just a marketing device.

A lack of knowledge is what will doom us, and I've pretty well given up trying to educate anyone. Few want to hear it.

[backscatter712]

3. On the bright side, the Obama Administration is committed to net-neutrality.

So I'm pretty confident we won't be seeing this soon...

[RoyGBiv]

4. Dear Gezzus ...

Where did you run across that monstrosity?

[backscatter712]

5. I think a goon from Somethingawful.com created that pic.

Sums up what the corporate thugs want to do with the Internet, doesn't it?

[RoyGBiv]

6. It's frighteningly real ...

I saw some mock-ups of ads that were suggested while I was with Cox that had hints of that. We were trying to pass off subscriptions to various pay sites with Internet service, so it wasn't precisely that. However, when I saw them, the image you posted is immediately what came to mind.

Damn.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

7. Hmmm.... I wonder if Microsoft's change of heart

has anything to do with their new direction with Windows Azure and the whole "cloud computing" thing?