Pay-Per-View Internet Making a Comeback?
The Nation: “The End of the Internet?”
It seems to me that this reads just like AOL’s (and all the older ISPs) limited-time sales schemes all over again. Those plans fell out of favor before, albeit with a much less sympathetic FCC chair in office. The current administration has already shown that it is not afraid to create media monopolies, such as with the vaunted FCC Media Ownership rules changes which were first proposed in 2001. The major media mergers which have recently been approved perhaps seem like a precursor this lobbying blitz in retrospect. There is certainly a great potential here for harm to be done to the Internet as we know it.
However, I don’t believe the idea of limiting bandwidth in the ways some of the companies in this article advocate will ever succeed in a free-market environment which has already seen the possibilities of unlimited access for this long. Heck, offering unlimited access used to be a primary sales tool not too long ago, even though the market has shifted more recently to favor speed and reliability. No matter how much the big providers try to build an oligopoly, there will still be alternatives available (satellite I suppose if we really had to). I think most Internet users will flock to them, just as they abandoned the old pricing schemes of the past.
Even more importantly, there is a tremendous amount of potential ecommerce money to be lost at companies such as Amazon, EBay, and Google. Internet gaming companies such as Blizzard and Sierra would also have seem to be at odds with such a strategy, as online video games often require great amounts of bandwidth. They have a huge vested interest in keeping the Internet relatively “free”. Our very own Dr. Lessig seems to believe that unlimited access is a major factor in the Internet’s success, and many libertarian organizations seem to be up in arms about this one. It would seem that if the communications companies do try to move forward, there will be a very interesting battle brewing… with the FCC playing the deciding role.
Media consolidation between companies such as SBC and AT&T will certainly lead us down that path of greater centralized control of our communications. However, Internet communications are not simply conveniences anymore, but are rather a part of American society which has become integrated into our daily business and personal lives. I hope that the people of this country stand up and take notice when major media conglomerates are lobbying this hard to have the FCC give them control of what we read, write, say, and hear.