gmiller - 8:24 am on Jul 6, 2006 (gmt 0)

Suppose a carrier slowed down the transmission data from a site. Could that be a breach of any laws related to restraint of trade? Suppose the carrier offered to restore data transmission to full speed for a fee. Could that be seen as blackmail and/or racketeering or something along those lines?

No, it'd be seen as freedom of speech, in much the same way that Google can rank one site above its competitor, using any reasonable or unreasonable ranking algorithm Google chooses.

The greedy, self-interested side of me likes the idea of "Net Neutrality", but the freedom-loving side finds it alarming.