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I have a background working in the telecom and ISP industry chasing stock option dreams, before reality set in. The biggest risk isn't just slowing access to websites, but using bandwidth monitoring and control to manipulate the user experience in order to reinforce an existing monopoly.

A perfect example of this is if an ISP decided to filter, restrict, or slow the packets used to support a VoIP (voice over internet, such as Vonage) in order to "force" you to use the ISP's own voice service. Likewise, the same could occur for video on demand services that are starting to exist on the internet (iTunes, Vudu, Amazon unboxed, etc), Comcast could use the same imposed limits to make it difficult to use competing services.

There are 2 sides to this, of course. Bandwidth isn't "free", but it is cheap. The issue is still that some users monopolize the available bandwidth, possibly for illegal activities. In other "utilities" such as water, sewer, or power your neighbor doesn't really have the ability to impact you with their activities. Just because your neighbor over waters their lawn doesn't limit your ability to have running water. This isn't the same for internet traffic, however there are better methods to insure "fair" sharing of the connections within a given area.

There are no easy answers for a company that lives in a capitalist market. I think a public owned option is a great idea, however all Internet connections need some level of policing and I don't know of many government agencies that have that ability today.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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