> Can you name a single thing that AOL has done to improve the Internet?
Yes, actually. When it was new, AOL made it accessible to non-geeky consumers. It was "training wheels for the Internet". Not what you or I would like to be stuck with, but a very good service for its target audience.
But there are, or were, thousands of independent ISPs. They provide many services. Many provide personalized service to their customers, not the "reboot your computer" scripts that the biggies are more likely to have. That alone is valuable. But ISPs also provide different vertical service options -- email servers (Verizon was blocking most mail from Europe, for cripes ache, and blocking outgoing mail that gave the sender's own domain rather than advertising Verizon!), web services, nntp, etc. Some give shell access. Some provide optional content filtering. Spam filter quality varies widely. Etc.
You simply assume that telcos won't do what they're already working on -- DPI filtering. That's foolish or dishonest, and I'm not going to say one or the other. Competition from ISPs has kept it at bay. One single cable competitor, who usually maintains a higher basic price point, is not enough competition to prevent such abuse. And your bringing up all of those other might-use-IP services is irrelevant, because those are totally irrelevant to what I'm talking about. I am talkin about what is now ISP service, but which is more likely to resemble a faster version of Prodigy Classic (which btw Big Ed owns).
re: Google Grouses on Net NeutralityReality is the FCC is doomed unless it finds a new life regulating the internet. No politician wants to be out of a job. Ergo, the internet as an un-regulated means of communication is doomed.
When companies offer Washington a cut of the deal via special taxes or fees, they get the legislation they want. That kind of comfortable deal between government and industry used to be popular in middle europe in the 30's and 40's.
Of course, the NSA is filtering all US domestic and international communication traffic anyway, so it matters little.
If we keep our guns well oiled, and the ammo dry, we have a chance. Unless the veeper is around.
re: Google Grouses on Net NeutralityDear Seven: If the RBOCs are not interested in filering and blocking, then who do they try so hard to become "information providers" instead of "telecom providers"?
rjs,
Can you name a single thing that AOL has done to improve the Internet?
They are the largest independent ISP.
ISPs are like long haul carriers only they aren't. They move bits from point A to point B.
seven