The new CEO of Virgin Media has just openly stated that Net Neutrality is "a load of bollocks", saying that if you aren't prepared to spend the extra cash, you will be put in the internet "bus-lane".
For those of you that don't know, Net Neutrality is the principal that all online content should have the same availability. The media is highly against this principal because they want the internet to be more like TV. Think about it, TV has a limited number of channels and an even smaller amount of channels that the world population as a whole watch regularly. This makes it extremely easy for the media / advertisers to shove ideas, beliefs, concepts, and products at you. However, on the internet, the public is in control. The individual site owners are the ones that control the content and advertising. It is much harder (impossible at some points) for the media to control you.
What Virgin Media is doing is the start of the end of the internet. They are openly admitting to allocating more bandwidth to select websites in an attempt to squash smaller websites. They are trying to make the internet more "controllable". Unless internet users as a whole make an example out of Virgin Media by showing them we will not sit idly by, then this is just the start. More Internet Providers will soon follow them down this path.
They have already begun contacting mainstream companies and offering them faster speeds for their websites in exchange for money. Companies with "deep pockets" will receive priority to the point where smaller websites will be at nearly 50% speed by the end of the decade, slowly decreasing even further from then on.
Virgin Media is the UK's second largest ISP. You can guarantee that if they are allowed to continue, MANY more will follow soon thereafter. If you like freedom, if you like the internet, then PLEASE, do not just sit there thinking someone else will stand up for what you believe. Inform as many people as you possibly can.
Sources:
Wikipedia - Net Neutralitya load of bollockstheglobeandmail.comboingboing
