I don't have a problem with traffic shaping or caching as a way of reducing costs or improving network performance but I'm a bit of a cynic and not sure I trust some ISPs not to use it as a substitute for investment in network infrastructure.
It also feels like the thin end of the wedge.
Quote:
Why the net should stay neutral
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is considering making changes to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and one of the ideas being floated is that network providers should be allowed to offer preferential service to some of their customers instead of providing a neutral data carrier service.
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....once we get away from the idea that the pipes just move bits around without really caring what data is being transmitted, it's a small step to discriminating against some forms of content and then targeting specific sites, services or users.
Instead of an "end-to-end" network, we would end up with something more like the phone network, along with a complicated array of charging schemes for "0800", "0845" and "0871" sites.
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