A very recent post on PCMech.com touched on something that every Internet user needs to take notice of…’Net Neutrality.  While the article, “Metered Bandwidth = Bad Idea” was well written, it only scratches the surface of this important subject.

‘Net Neutrality is the notion that Internet users have the RIGHT to determine what content they view, and the applications they use to view it, on the Internet. Seems pretty logical, but this basic freedom is being threatened by ISPs and  Big Telco companies…the very companies YOU use to access the Internet.

While not directly a ‘Net Neutrality concern, metered bandwidth is a symptom of the bigger concerns at hand.  So what exactly is the problem?  Let’s illustrate it with an example.

Let’s say you are a small or home business owner about to launch a new product.  Traditionally the Internet provided an even playing field on which your products had an equal opportunity to reach the same customers (and potential customers) as the big players in your market.  Now suppose your big competitors could pay ISPs to control the amount of data / traffic being routed to them.  Increasing their bandwidth and slow. Or cut, traffic to you.  This effectively kills the level playing field and equal opportunity.  On the Internet this can mean death for a website.

“Who cares?  I’m not a small business owner.”.  Traffic shaping also has freedom of speech and democratic implications.  Potentially ISPs could be paid to “bury” the Internet voice of social activism, independent voice and democratic thought.  Your very freedom is threatened when economic and political agendas of Government and Big Business is forced on you and they decide what information you can see.

In simple terms, it is no different than your telephone provider telling you who you can call and at what time you can call them, or your power company specifying what devices you can plug into the wall and if you use something different, it will not work properly.  Just think about that.

Why would an ISP do this?  Simple…greed.  ISPs collects money from these traffic shaping contracts, and they also continue to collect from YOU every month to access filtered content. This can not happen. I urge you to contact your local government representative and tell them this is not acceptable. You can also visit http://www.neutrality.ca/ or Save The Internet for more information and to sign their petition. Will Pate has a great article on “3 Easy Ways to Support Net Neutrality in Canada“.  While specific to Canada, these 3 steps can be applied anywhere:

1. Talk about it.  Get the word out any way you can
2. Lobby your politicians.  Remember, they are public servants that are supposed to work for you.
3. Complain to your regulatory authority.  In Canada it is the CRTC or the FCC in the U.S.

“Ah, this is all just conspiracy talk.  It doesn’t happen…my Internet connection is fine.”  Let me tell you, it IS happening and will happen more and more.

On October 31, 2007, Bell Sympatico (Bell Canada), one of the largest ISPs in Canada, admitted to using traffic management systems to specifically target peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic. This, in effect, reduced the speed at which this type of data could transfer or blocks it entirely. A Sympatico manager later added, “…Bell is using Internet Traffic Management to ensure we deliver bandwidth fairly to our customers…”.

This statement admits to traffic shaping and hints at the need for bandwidth metering.  In reality, there is more bandwidth available than you could imagine.  During the dotcom bubble of the late 90’s, thousands of miles of fiber optic cabling was laid for Internet use.  Most of this bandwidth was never used and remains dark to this day.  The fact is your ISP would rather take more from you then spend a little more to increase capacity, by lighting this fiber, to meet demand.

However, not all hope is not lost.  On May 16, 2008 the Globe and Mail reported that Bell Canada must prove ‘Net shaping is needed. “Federal regulators have ordered Bell Canada to provide tangible evidence that its broadband networks are congested to justify the company’s Internet “traffic-shaping” policies. “

While this article may be heavily Canadian leaning, I can assure you that this is happening all over the world.  I know there are similar stories to be told from everywhere.