Over the past year or so, the term net neutrality has been getting quite a bit of attention in the media and rightfully so. Since most people get their Internet from only a handful of the large telecom companies, those companies are now trying to exert more power over data delivery, and are actually favoring those companies willing to pay them more money for faster delivery. The telecom companies are holding people and companies hostage, essentially.
The Dangers of Ending Net Neutrality
They want to end the neutrality of the net so they can gain even more power, and charge companies more money for delivering content faster. If this happens, and it very well could, it would mean that those companies that deliver content, such as Netflix, would have no choice but to increase the charge for their service.
It was just a short time ago that Netflix actually had to pay Verizon and Comcast additional fees in order to keep their content flowing quickly to their customers who were using those networks. To those who watched the process unfold, it seemed as though the telecom companies were treating Netflix unfairly. If net neutrality were to end, this would happen far more often than it does already.
Those content companies that had more money could pay to have their content delivered faster than other companies could. This would limit the freedom of the web greatly. The telecom companies would eventually have all of the power on the Internet. Right now, the people have the power, but that could well change unless we keep net neutrality.
Google Plays Fairly
Google is one of the companies that is against this type of practice, and it is easy to see that when you look behind the scenes at the colocation and peering policies for Google Fiber. They allow for Netflix and other content delivery companies to use their own content servers and simply keep them in the Google facilities. They feel that this is the best decision for their company, as well as for their partners who use the colocation service. Ultimately, they feel it is better for the customers, as well.
Imagine for a moment if Google was trying to play by the same terms of favoritism that the telecom companies are using. Since they own YouTube, for example, they could conceivably ensure that it was fast for their customers, but they could slow down Netflix and other streaming sites that it might deem competition. It could put restrictions on Facebook, which it might see as competition to Google Plus. Fortunately, they don’t do this, and they firmly believe in net neutrality, which is obvious from their peering and colocation policies.
Google Fiber is still quite limited in the number of areas and people it reaches, but it is starting to grow. Having such a powerful ally on the side of net neutrality is a good thing too, and they, along with a number of other online companies, may be able to convince the government that net neutrality is actually a very good thing.
Whatever does eventually happen with net neutrality, it will be very interesting to watch. The Internet world is at a crux right now, and if the government does decide to end net neutrality, it could be very bad for those out there now who love their high speed connections and all of the things that they can down load and do.
For more information on net neutrality, check out this post:
http://www.singlehop.com/blog/a-neutral-guide-to-net-neutrality/