The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic.
The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user.
...
The agency said providing different levels of service is common, efficient and could satisfy consumers.
Get ready to start paying a premium to access more popular we sites, a la your wonderfully tiered cable TV service.
"No, I'm sorry. The onion.com site is available only on our $79.99 a month Preferred Packet Plan".
Imagine your telephone service provider being allowed to charge you more for access to certain exchanges that are popular. "We're sorry. Your call cannot be placed to California exchange 916 at this time. California exchange 916 is only available to customers who opt for our Dubious Dialing plan. If you would like to pay a one-time access fee of $5.99 by credit or debit card in order to complete your call, please press 5 now."
Worse than that, if 'Net neutrality is lost, internet providers will be able to censor web sites by not carrying them. Did Comcast get a scathing review from cableaccess.com? Well, goodbye cableaccess.com.
Censorship of that kind wouldn't stop at just sites critical of the provider. How easy would it be for providers to strangle free political speech on the Internet by refusing to carry Daily Kos or Little Green Footballs? "In order to give our customers more choice, AT&T will no longer be providing access to 'thedrudgereport.com'".
It's unfathomable that the American government would agree with stifling freedom - right now you can get any website that exists - by recommending that providers be allowed pick and choose which web site to provide access to.
