> > Here's the deal. I'm not so much a fan of legislation because something potentially COULD be used for evil instead of niceness. I'd rather let it pan out and then legislate it out of existence IF it turns out to be a terrible thing.
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> My problem here is that the telcos laid all their fiber with a lot of government subsidies (look at the special regulatory fees you pay each month on a telephone and cable bill) under the guise they were providing consumers with Net access. Now that they've got that market, they want to charge Internet companies for priority access to the network the public has subsidized.

And this, ultimately, is the other reason I'm not with you, Darien. Normally, I'm pretty anti-legislation about businesses (or anything, really). The telcos' right to do as they please with the lines is highly suspect.

Even so, our communications networks are too vital to our economy not to be protected by law from the big guns that would love to have a strangehold over it. It's not just free enterprise for communications businesses we're talking about but something that has a direct widespread impact on free and fair trade across virtually every sector. I support a free market, unfettered by government intervention, to an extent most people do not -- but this is a situation where a business sector that is NOT a free market is allowed to act to encumber one -- a much larger one at that, spanning all sorts of unrelated industries.

Changing the subject a bit, there is the possibility that Congress will allow tiered performance and the telcos will totally fail to pull it off, because workarounds will be sought. Internet over power lines, for example, would only look all the more attractive. Of course, that opens the door for the possibility of power companies trying to pull the same stunt.

Realistically, I don't see the telcos getting away with it, but I *do* see the effectiveness of our communications infrastructure -- and consequently our economy -- taking shortish term damage as they try. I'd much rather see the law in place.