The pitch for this new product is simple:
The Internet is the most important infrastructure we've ever created, so we mustn't neglect it. We need to build infrastructure for fast, pervasive and inclusive connectivity. We need to invest.
And where should the money come from? It's obvious. Those who use today's infrastructure freely for their commercial gain should pay for the privilege. Blockbuster paid for its own video rental shops, so why shouldn't Netflix pay to deliver its products down our pipes?
For-profit companies cannot expect a free ride. They pay. We all benefit.
So, are you buying ZiL Lane 2.0?
Net neutrality and ZiL Lanes
Net neutrality is a simple principle integral to the original design of the Internet and, to many minds including mine, absolutely essential to it. The principle asserts that the network will not prioritise – and by inference discriminate – some traffic over other traffic based on where it's come from. Sure, we're all happy to prioritise traffic constituting a video feed over email because who cares if the email takes another tenth of a second to arrive, but we should not for example allow those who operate the Internet infrastructure to prioritise one party's video feed over another.
Why? Read more
