Access Blocked: The Nightmare Starts in 2008

Censorship, unfair trade, or just business? As of January 6, 2008 Verizon will no longer be held by the restriction to comply with the “network neutrality” principle that has been a hallmark of the Internet since its inception.

The requirement and the expiration come from the Verizon/MCI merger that was recently completed. Acually, the date could come sooner for some, as the FCC mandated timeline for SBC/AT&T customers is a few weeks earlier. Without network neutrality, your ISP could block or reduce access speed to any content or service they see fit. Maybe they are against pornography, so they block all of that. No problem you think as you are not into online pornography. But what if they are fundamentalist right wing conservatives? Maybe they will block the “liberal” media and any site that mentions evolution.

What does this really mean for us? If they don’t do anything, it is no big deal. But if they excercise their right to restrict access or limit speed, then it could wipe out millions of customers from your business. Do you use a VOIP service? Maybe the ISP will block it because they want you to pay them for their version. Do you download movies from a legal online service? Maybe they will pinch the pipe to limit you to the equivalent of a 14.4K modem because they want to sell you their Video On Demand. Do you use iTunes? Not if your ISP wants you to buy from their online music store.

But what if they want to tap into the multi-billion dollar online shopping revenue stream of their users. Maybe they would block access to all merchants unless you buy through their online portal, which gets all the affiliate income. Now how do you feel as your program grows, but you now only have a few affiliates and overall sales drop because the smart affiliates went away. These firms will have a huge base of customers. Maybe they will want a license fee from the affiliate network to allow affiliates to refeer buyers, or else they just block all access. Same thing for advertising networks.

If you think this is extreme, consider this quote from SBC Chairman Edward Whitacre:

“For a Google or a Yahoo or a Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes for free is nuts!”

Considering that over 60% of households get high speed service from just four service providers (Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and AT&T), and that consolidation is continuing, this is a real and growing threat.

• We Support New York Affiliates

  

• Subscribe to ReveNews

  • Get ReveNews Updates in Your Reader
  • Get ReveNews Updates in Your Email

• The Latest Comments

  • Danny on Overstock.com Terminates All NY Affiliates
  • atterryreum on Blogging Isn’t Ready For Paid Posting
  • Derrick Love on Practical Tips for First Time Conference Attendees
  • teresa caldwell on Practical Tips for First Time Conference Attendees
  • Roxanne McHenry on Killer Combo: SedoPro Domain Parking Plus Adsense Accelerator
  • Rashmi Bora on Performics Becomes Google Affiliate Network
  • lisa picarille on Practical Tips for First Time Conference Attendees
  • Carolyn Winter on AWeber.com Customer Service … A TOS Pusher?!
  • Carsten Cumbrowski on Practical Tips for First Time Conference Attendees
  • Heather Paulson on Paid Search Monitoring Project Concept - Run with it!

• ReveNews Readers

• Archives

  Select Month July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004

• ScratchBack Widget