The (new) AT&T's arrogance is really astounding. Along with BellSouth, they are lobbying Congress for the right to create a two-tiered Internet, where their own services would be transmitted faster and more efficiently than their competitors, or put another way, for the right to cripple competing services rather than make their own services compelling. They cloak this in a lot of nonsense about how content providers like Google are using "their" pipes to access "their" customers (treating us as a commodity they can sell, and ignoring the fact that we the customer are paying for bandwidth to this content).
If you think a two-tiered Internet is a good idea, apply it to voice as well. Imagine a system where calls that originate on carriers other than yours are like a bad cell phone connection, because your carrier prioritizes and provides more bandwidth to it's own traffic.
The House of Representatives recently held hearings on a preliminary draft by two GOP congressmen, Joe Barton of Texas and Fred Upton of Michigan, that would give the telecom companies the freedom to establish "premium" broadband services. Dang it, wouldn't you know that my own Congress Critter is trying to destroy The Internet As We Know It. I'm not a big contributor with deep pockets and an army of lobbyists, and I know it won't make a difference, but I sent a message to his office outlining why this is such a bad idea. Maybe others will too.
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