Interesting bit of political framing here:

Put another way, if net neutrality passes, the AT&Ts of the world will be forced to pay for all of their equipment upgrades themselves and could not subsidize that effort by imposing premium fees for premium services. If net neutrality fails, they will be able to recoup more of those costs than they can now from the likes of Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other major users of the World Wide Web.

At its heart, then, the battle is commercial — over who pays how much for improvements to the Internet that we all use and sometimes love.

No Neutral Ground in This Internet Battle By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum Washington Post Monday, June 26, 2006; Page D01

I’d be more willing to believe that if the various incumbent carriers or their predecessors hadn’t already been promising us fast broadband for everyone for many years now, and if Japan and Korea hadn’t already managed it without this kind of finagle. Continue reading →