Hazlett: Net Has Never Been Neutral and Shouldn't Be

Clemson Professor Tom Hazlett, one of the panelists for an Oct. 2 FCC net neutrality forum on the economics of broadband, provided a preview at a Hudson Institute forum Oct. 1 and the takeaway was that the Internet has never been neutral, with players paying each other, which he said was a good thing.  

He said that the Internet has been built on fast and slow lanes, favoring some content over others, blocking, and money changing hands for that, which he called a wonderful marketplace development that has fueled the growth of the 'net.  

Contracts are features, not bugs, of the system, he said.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.