"The US Justice Department has said that internet service providers should be allowed to charge for priority traffic.
The agency said it was opposed to "network neutrality", the idea that all data on the net is treated equally.
The comments put the agency at odds with companies such as Microsoft and Google, who have called for legislation to guarantee equal access to the net.
The agency submitted its comments to the Federal Communications Commission, which is investigating net access.
Several US internet service providers (ISPs), including AT&T and Verizon, have previously said that they want to charge some users more money for certain content.
This has particularly become an issue with the rise of TV and film download services.
A similar debate is ongoing in the UK.
One Web
The Justice Department said imposing net neutrality regulations could hinder development of the internet and prevent ISPs from upgrading networks.
The agency said it could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers".
"Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities," said Thomas Barnett, the department's antitrust chief.
The agency's stance is contrary to much of the internet community that believes in an open model for the internet.
Net neutrality advocates argue that a two-tier internet would allow broadband providers to become gatekeepers to the web's content.
Providers that can pay will be able to get a commercial advantage over those that cannot, they say.
In particular, there is a fear that institutions like universities and charities would suffer.
Last year, Sir Tim Berners-Lee the inventor of the web rallied against the idea of a two-tier internet.
"What's very important from my point of view is that there is one web," he said.
"Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring."
Basically US ISPs are fighting for the right to take more of your money. I think its a sad state of affairs when 3rd world countries have better internet access than we do and our country's ISPs want to charge us more money for the assbackwards internet access we have now to upgrade the network backbones they don't even own, so in the end that money only ends up lining their pockets.F*** them!!!
Team MF Member #013 Posts: 1994
Joined: 12/27/2005 From: Okla. Status: offline
Well, if they actually pass the bill regarding this, get ready for a lot of free content providers to either make up for lost revenue being paid to carriers (such as youtube) by either going pay only or seriously enhancing the amount of advertisement that goes on.
This goes back to the reason I think lobyists should be taken out and shot as punishment for treason. The government should not be interfering with something like this, saying who can and cannot be charged extra for the flow of data... but the telecom agency's are lobbying congress and other elected officals hard to get htis passed... its basically cost savings and extra cash flow for them. So instead of leaving things alone and going along with what pretty much any person outside of the big signal carriers wants, they go with who's lineing their pockets with the most dough.. Like I said, bribing public officials should be treated as treason, and lobyists are nothing more than bribers operating through a legal loophole.
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US DOJ Backs Two-Tier Internet, freakin LAME!!! - 
