Supporters of net neutrality have
insisted the rules are necessary to
protect equal access to content on the
internet. Opponents said the rules
unfairly subjected broadband internet
suppliers like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast
and Charter to utility-style regulation.
connections into cloud computing providers, bypass-
ing the open Internet all together.
But what about voting with your dollar, shopping for
other providers? Heyman states that “Shifting pro-
viders may not protect you, they all may start doing
packet discrimination.”
The ISP’s logic here is a bit flawed. If I pay for an Inter-
net connection, then why should I also pay for the
services that I select to use that connection, whether
it be Netflix for nightly entertainment, or AWS to
drive my business? We’re not sure why the ISPs feel
they are entitled to charge the provider as well as me.
They are serving me, and not the provider.
So, how do we advise our clients? In this instance, it’s
a matter of government actions that our clients can
do little about. However, we’ll keep an eye on how
ISPs adjust to the new regulations, or should we say,
removed regulations. Policies that they adopt will set
the standard for how cloud providers work outside of
Net Neutrality.
This could mean higher costs for some and reduced
costs for others. A mix is the best prediction we can
make right now considering how things have worked
out in the past around the deregulation of other util-
ities, such as long distance services, water, electric-
ity, and now... the Internet.
SUMMER 2017 | THE DOPPLER | 7