Tim Berners-Lee Warns About a Tiered Internet
By Alexander Grundner |
May 24th, 2006 
Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, recently spoke at a conference on the future of the web and warned that a two-tiered Internet like the one being proposed by the US telecom industry could lead to a “dark period” and eliminate the openness and democratization of the web. In essence, a two-tiered Internet would make broadband providers the gatekeepers to faster, higher priority networks – leaving the rest of the world who can’t pay up in the slow lane. “What’s very important from my point of view is that there is one web,” says Berners-Lee. “Anyone that tries to chop it into two will find that their piece looks very boring.”
Broadband providers argue that with the increase of IP video and voice distribution on their networks their infrastructure is or will soon be overburdened, thus a tiered network needs to be put in place. But in truth, all these networks really need to do is update their systems to be on par with advanced networks like South Korea’s broadband convergence network (BcN) where customers are getting Internet connection speeds at 50-100 megabits per second (Mbps).
Sounds to me that broadband providers are looking for an easy out and another way to charge consumers more for mediocre services. Thankfully, though, there’s already legislation being introduced to guarantee net neutrality – lets hope it passes.
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Alexander Grundner
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Rensul