FourDegreez - 10:56 pm on Jun 8, 2006 (gmt 0)

The cable and telcos are saying this is only about charging for high-bandwidth content. However once that precedent is set, what's stopping them from expanding the concept? I know I certainly don't put my trust in them and would rather there be a law guaranteeing my sites protection from this greedy shake-down attempt. Hey, we pay for bandwidth, too. The internet is like cellphone service: both the sending and the receiving parties pay for the transmission. Their next argument is that there isn't an incentive to continue upgrading bandwidth capacity. This is completely specious. Bandwidth has been increasing for years without a two-tiered system! Why would that growth suddenly crash, especially given so much competition?

Hobbs is right. ISPs base their business model on the fact that we the publishers create content that people want access to. Without us they have nothing. They ought to be paying US a fee!