Nicholas Carr asks if a “neutral” network may actually be anti-competitive. He points out that the issue is more complex than many consider.
In an interesting posting, he suggests:
If net neutrality becomes law, it would prevent big companies from locking in an advantage at the protocological level – giving certain types of data privileged status – but it would allow big companies to lock in an advantage at the infrastructural level.
The protocol may be neutral, but those content providers that can afford to build better infrastructure, or mirror their sites, are able to buy advantages that confound the democratic ideals sought by those idealists who would impose net neutrality legislation. Hal Singer asks questions about Google’s motives in his commentary in today’s National Post.
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Nicholas Carr, Hal Singer, net neutrality