2-tier internet means one thing

Tim Berners-Lee is getting some more deserved airtime over at the BBC regarding the net neutrality issue.

I've stayed out of the discussion so far, not due to apathy, but because the idea of a 2-tiered internet is such a bad idea that I really couldn't believe it would be taken seriously. But apparently it is.

So, I'm not going into one of those 'why should you care posts', as I think most of the downsides are pretty obvious. However, in case the penny hasn't dropped for you, here's a quick (anonymous) anecdote...

Last week I met with some folks from a very, very large 'financial institution'. We got on the subject of the 2-tier internet and their position on the matter was very clear. Basically they realized that a rich man's Net and a poor man's Net would mean only one thing for the rich guys: higher prices. Rich guys stay rich because they aren't stupid. They calculated that an increase of 20% for 'premium packets' would mean literally adding tens of millions of dollars to their internet connectivity bill for their global operations.

Once the penny dropped they joined the lobbying effort against the bill.