Observations of an Internet Middleman / RIP Network Neutrality

[owen at delong.com (Owen DeLong)]

> Yes, you've got "some of the largest Internet companies as customers².
> Because you told them "if you don't pay us, we'll throttle you".  Then
> you throttled them.  I'm sorry, not a winning argument.
> Nick

Claims by some large ISPs that this is â??untrueâ?? rest on the claim that they donâ??t do traffic discrimination.

While they may not be (and, indeed, are not allowed to) do traffic discrimination, what is ignored is that refusing to add sufficient peering capacity is, to the consumerâ??s perspective (and to the content providerâ??s perspective as well) effectively the same thing as throttling.

I will note that as yet, not one of these providers has claimed that they did not refuse to increase peering capacity in order to leverage payment, and, indeed, payment does appear to have been leveraged.

Owen