News: Has Google brought an end to net-neutrality

There is uncertainty in regards to an alleged deal between Google and American telecommunications company Verizon that could see an end to net-neutrality.

As it stands now users of the internet are offered the same level of access to sites, but if net-neutrality is removed network providers would be able to charge a premium to allow faster access to important sites such as YouTube.

According to The New York Times Google and Verizon are close to an agreement which could see Verizon provide faster online content to users if the sites providing this content pay extra to do so.

But Google is denying this via a tweet in their Public Policy Twitter stream stating that “@NYTimes is wrong. We've not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open internet.”

In the mean time the influential Wall Street Journal have also weighed in, reporting that the two companies have reached a tentative agreement on managing network traffic.

Google has historically been a great advocate of net-neutrality, with Google CEO Eric Schmidt claiming back in 1996 that “Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight [for net neutrality].”

This change in Google's direction is for many people in direct opposition to their motto of “Don't do evil”, with supporters of net-neutrality claiming that if this principle is not abided to, the internet could be dominated by the network operators who would be able to control the access to and distribution of content.

They also believe that only large players in the content market would be able to pay for faster delivery of content, thereby snuffing out smaller competitors. Consumers could also be forced into a tiered pricing structure, having to pay more for speedier access to certain content.

Has Google brought an end to net-neutrality

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