Fast Lane in the Works

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/239244/fast-lane-in-the-works/

The Americans are subjecting the Internet to the principles of capitalism. In the future, those who pay will be allowed to surf faster. It is a dangerous trend that is also finding followers in Europe.

Fast Lane in the Works
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
By Pascal Paukner
Translated By Sean Thacker
16 May 2014
Edited by Lau­rence Bouvard

For a long time the Internet had a good ideological home in America, but that time is over now. The FCC, the national communications agency, has introduced its proposal for the future of net neutrality. If things go the way the regulators want them to, then the Internet will no longer be neutral in America in the future. It could then even be said that it will no longer be free, no longer equally bound to all of its users, and a government sponsored two-class society will prevail.

In a 99-page document, the government agency is recommending that in the future, Internet service providers allow their data packages to travel through the wires at different speeds. It is a document of failure, a concession of a market failure, because even though the request for a fast Internet is ongoing, corporations have so far not created the necessary infrastructure.

~snip~

For a long time, telecommunications companies in Europe and Germany have been fighting net neutrality. In fact, with its vote a week ago, the European Parliament has set boundaries on this greed for the time being, but the decision still has to go through the European Council. Even if the members of the European Parliament agree to it, the issue might be a frequent part of the political agenda because there are also regions in Europe in which data traffic jams are an everyday occurrence.

The new rules help providers and those who can afford faster connections. They do nothing for infrastructure. The U.S. already has experience of paid privileges in another area: In major American cities, there are already “fast lanes,” roads on which drivers who are willing to pay a toll are allowed to drive. They quickly put extra money into the public coffers. However, these lanes change nothing when it comes to regular traffic gridlock. The same thing could happen with the Internet.

[Downwinder]

1. From here to DU my transmissions pass through five providers.

if any one of those providers shapes their traffic it will affect my throughput.

Will I have to negotiate with each of those providers for an equitable speed?