Corporate power

I really fear corporate control of the Internet. This has been happening for a while, at least since the early days of AOL, where I suppose one traded limitations for user-friendliness in the early days when the net frightened a lot of users. But here is an example of how "bottom line" concerns can compromise freedom of access issues. Internet rights could become like water rights, an area of conflict.

clipped from news.yahoo.com Comcast blocks some Internet traffic By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer NEW YORK - Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known as sources of copyright music, software and movies, BitTorrent in particular is emerging as a legitimate tool for quickly disseminating legal content.