UK Minister Backs 'Two-Speed' Internet

Darkon writes "UK Culture minister Ed Vaizey has backed a 'two-speed internet', letting service providers charge content makers and customers for 'fast lane' access. It paves the way for an end to 'net neutrality' — with heavy bandwidth users like Google and the BBC likely to face a bill for the pipes they use."

Re:Consensus?

[arkane1234]

Net neutrality is something that's not even something you talk about... it's just a given, like freedom of speech.

Re:BBC and Virgin Media

[Anonymous Coward]

To the Shareholders of Virgin Media for their enrichment.

Go green!

[Quiet_Desperation]

How about a ten speed internet so you can downshift for steep hills?

Here's hoping...

[Lord Bitman]

I really just hope that these "bandwidth users" like google outright refuse to pay, and instead instantly cut off access from those ISPs which threaten them with such stupidity.

Re:Aren't the pipes already being paid for?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only pay for calls/texts you initiate? now thats SOCIALIST talk! I won't have any of that here in MY USA!

Re:Confused.

[_Sprocket_]

It has come to the good Minister's attention, via very earnest talks with telecom industry representatives, that the Internet is not a lorry. You just don't dump a movie on to the Internet without it getting mixed up with everyone's emails. And in fact, unlike when you mail a DVD, a movie on the Internet is not a single package. A movie can be many hundreds of thousands of packages. In fact, with the help of a very complex Powerpoint slide, the Honourable Minister was able to understand that merely even beginning to send a movie on the Internet requires a "three way handshake" which is, in effect, three whole messages being sent back and forth on the Internet. Meanwhile, the poor, near impoverished telecoms have been fooled in to under-charging by at least 1/3 of what they should be owed. They have attempted to make this up by charging the service provider and the user but that is only 2 of the fair 3 charges owed; and that's just this handshake. It doesn't even take account all the other packets involved. Clearly someone has made a mistake and it will take government to step in and rectify the situation. To further educate the Honourable Minister, the British Phonographic Industry attended the presentation and noted that the thousands of packets noted by the telecom industry each represents a lost sale and is largely the cause of the Spice Girls entering retirement.

Re:Excellent

[Vernes]

No, son. It was a plaything of Politics. Goverments, Music industries, Extremists. Everybody threatened us with sanctions on what we did with the Internet. There even was a time we would stand to loose it completely as its usefulness was crippled. Internet's usefulness is directly connected to the amount of people using it. And who would use it if the risks got to high? We almost lost it all. Now shut up and finish your introduction game so Google can generate a personalized profile for you. You don't want to receive Viagra ads do you?

Re:dangburn newfangled hippies

[Anonymous Coward]

I can hear it now, almost a throwback to the 60's... "dangburn newfangled hippies with their free love, free net, free information! Every redblooded {American|Brit} knows you get what you pay for! Can't have vagrants just lolligagging around on the net! The pricetag filters out the hoodlums!"

Just update that to today's parlance by working "freeloaders" and "Marxists" in there a few times, and you've got yourself a solid Fox News Op-Ed.