A two-tier Internet on the way?

Last year there was a lot of talk of the Internet splitting into two or three with countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and some Arab states threatening to start operating their own versions of the internet.

Whilst that split never occured another one may be just around the corner, i.e. this time it is big business wanting to carve a big piece of the Internet for itself.

In brief, telecoms companies in the US wish to implement a two-tier system, where data from companies or institutions that can pay are given priority over those that cannot.

The greatest fear is that those who can pay for a better service will be able to get a commercial advantage over those that cannot. To me it just sounds like the arguments for and against private education and healthcare here in the UK - few seem to openly support them, yet they flourish nevertheless.

For more details see Web inventor warns of 'dark' net (Jonathan Fildes, BBC News: Technology).

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