Welcome to the Internet's new toll lane

[Renew Deal]

There are lots of reasons to be dismayed by the recent appeals court ruling striking down the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's Net neutrality rules. But one of the most upsetting things about it is how it now gives Internet service providers all the latitude they need to charge more for whatever services they deem to be deserving of a premium cost.

First, let's get the most paranoid speculation out of the way. I don't believe for a second ISPs are going to start arbitrarily blocking common sites or services wholesale. It's too obvious, there's too much risk of a backlash, and it wouldn't garner ISPs anything but bad karma. Instead, it's more likely they'll find ways to monetize the relaxed oversight this court ruling has granted them.

In fact, there already exists a good example for how such things might work: Comcast's Xbox Xfinity app.

For those who don't remember, Comcast announced back in 2011 that subscribers to its network who also had the Xbox 360 could add a service known as Xfinity On Demand. What's more, any content delivered through Xfinity On Demand was exempt from Comcast's monthly 250GB bandwidth cap -- but any other Xbox 360 video content, such as from Netflix or Hulu, did count against that cap.

Needless to say, this provoked the ire of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who saw this as an obvious slap at his company. Comcast shot back with a rationalization: Anything supplied through Xfinity On Demand technically counted as cable service and not data service, and was therefore exempt from the data cap.
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http://www.infoworld.com/t/net-neutrality/welcome-the-internets-new-toll-lane-234269

[ohheckyeah]

1. Comcast no longer has a data cap, so probably not the best

example. They haven't had one for at least a couple of years.

[Xyzse]

2. It isn't the data caps that I am worried about.

The problem is them throttling service on specific sites to the point of banning.

It creates an unequal playing field in the net, where established companies would have priority over start ups, which then stifles innovation and competition.

This is just bs.