Toll booths on the information highway? The threat to network neutrality

Hello, all. I'd like to apologize for my recent break from posting. I'd like to, but I can't.

Apologizing is, after all, against the unwritten creed of the cat. Besides, I figure most of you fellow bloggers understand, and if you're not a blogger, you're probably not reading this anyway.

But if you are a blogger, or if you are a Web surfer or researcher who somehow stumbled onto my humble cyberhome, there's something going on that you may have heard about. Perhaps your first response, like mine, was to question the sources and their validity. After all, the whole things sounds like something that might have been dreamed up by one of those human "conspiracy nuts." (No offense intended; conspiracy nuts have a vital role to play in human society.)

But I've done some research, and it's true. It concerns a concept called "network neutrality." I don't understand all the technicalities of this concept, nor do I fully understand the possible ramifications of the current threat it is facing. I'm just an overweight cat, after all, commonsensical though I may be. I'm no techie. But it has something to do with the functionality and access of Web sites -- how quickly they load and that sort of thing. It seems AT&T, the cable companies and others who own much of the physical part of the Internet want to be able to give operational priority to Web sites that have contributed financially. To you, the Internet user, this would mean that certain Web sites would be more difficult to access, because the people who "own" the bandwidth would give others priority.

What would this mean for the parent of a child with a cancer -- a concerned parent who is searching for information, clinical trials, support groups and other resources? What would it mean for intelligent, insightful humans who are finally finding a voice, a forum for ideas and information that is unfiltered by corporate interests and other powerful entities? What would it mean for folks who are simply lonely, bored and trying to reach like-minded people?

What would it mean for cat-bloggers?

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Being commonsensical, I realize that AT&T and the cable companies have to make a living. They are serving a number of critical purposes. Without them, there would be no Internet, no telephones and not much on TV worth watching. They are not evil.

I'd love to offer a solution that would satisfy all concerned, preserve the sanctity of the Internet and make me very rich. But as previously stated, I'm just an overweight cat. I leave the arguing, speculating, problem-solving and, if necessary, compromising in the capable hands of you, my fellow bloggers -- human, feline or otherwise.

Here's a worthy offering from one of you. Keep it up.

This is Cruxley, reminding you that freedom -- of communication or anything else -- isn't free. But maybe it shouldn't be bought and sold.

Now show some love to your cat.