IP Democracy: New York Times Advocates Net Neutrality

In a very interesting move, the New York Times editorial page today has come out in favor of passing net neutrality legislation. In an op-ed pieced entitled “Tollbooths on the Information Highway,” the paper’s editorial staff warns that the Internet could get co-opted by powerful corporate interests if a two-tiered Internet takes hold.

If access tiering takes hold, the Internet providers, rather than consumers, could become the driving force in how the Internet evolves. Those corporations’ profit-driven choices, rather than users’ choices, would determine which sites and methodologies succeed and fail. They also might be able to stifle promising innovations, like Internet telephony, that compete with their own business interests.

With little equivocation, the Times says that Congress should pass net neutrality laws.

Most Americans have little or no choice of broadband I.S.P.’s, so they would have few options if those providers shifted away from neutrality. Congress should protect access to the Internet in its current form. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, says he intends to introduce an Internet neutrality bill, which would prohibit I.S.P.’s from favoring content providers that paid them fees, or from giving priority to their own content.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 20, 2006 9:25 AM to IP Democracy