Net Neutrality And Tethering

Tethering is a means of getting internet access on your computer by hooking up your mobile phone and using the internet access you pay for on your phone plan to get online on your computer.

The natural thing for rent-seeking predatory companies is to block tethering on mobile phones. Many telcos do just that. It allows them to screw their customers harder.

The US FCC has just put out a statement suggesting that the practice of tethering would be offensive against the net neutrality principle, which the FCC has proposed. Basically ‘net neutrality’ is a principle designed to stop the internet being colonised by big business. For example an ISP may be paid by a corporation to prioritise the streaming of its movies, leaving less bandwidth to other traffic.

If the "any device rule" is enacted as a "Rule" with a capital "R," customers must be enabled to utilize any device they choose to connect with a wireless broadband network, as long as it did not harm the network.

Not surprisingly, big business has been lobbying hard against net neutrality, initiating a scare campaign based on an Obama-bashing conspiracy theory:

If you thought Washington—which already took over banking and autos, and is fast-tracking attempts to take over health care and energy—would leave the Internet alone, you were dead wrong. The Internet (perhaps our greatest free market success story in recent years) is squarely in the cross-hairs of the administration and it’s not waiting for Congress to act. The charge is being led by an eager, ideologically committed White House staffer named Susan Crawford.

Unbelievable! You really can’t make this stuff up. As soon as content owners can prioritise their traffic, and reduce your traffic to a standstill the price they charge will go up, and consumer choice will go down. Business has been searching for a means to colonise the internet so they can extract monopoly rent from users. Attempts by government to prevent this are characterised as a leftist conspiracy.