Net Neutrality = Net Communism

From Patterico's Pontifications:

It seems to me that the Net Neutrality proponents are trying to repeal the laws of supply and demand through legislation. Such efforts always end badly. We should re-label the effort “Net Communism.” Let me explain. 

The Internet promotes this illusion of a Shangri-La world of unlimited access to unlimited data for free. Of course, we all realize (if we think about it) that this isn’t quite the case. You have to pay at both ends of Al Gore’s information superhighway. 

On the receiving end, whether you access the Internet through your phone or your computer, you typically have to pay an ISP for access. 

You could go to a Starbucks and grab their free WiFi, but somebody has to pay for that access (hint: it’s Starbucks). They pay for it, and provide it to you for free, to lure you there and sell you overpriced coffee-style drinks and pastries. 

But someone has to pay. 

On the serving end, you must pay as well. As you have probably noticed (since you’re here) I have a Web site. 

I pay to maintain the URL, and I pay hosting fees to a company that hosts the site on a server. 

Because I don’t pay thousands of dollars every month, the server capacity I can purchase is limited. I share a server with several other sites that also typically do not need a dedicated, gold-plated server. 

This arrangement typically suits my needs, but the site is not necessarily able to sustain a link from Matt Drudge. (I have found this out before.) 

If I am dissatisfied with this state of affairs, and wish to have a site that can easily withstand a Drudge link, I will have to pay more. There is good reason for this: bandwidth, like most resources, is scarce. 

If a Drudge link hits my site while my site is on a shared server, it slows down traffic for all the other sites. 

If I pay more money to the hosting company, they can now afford to invest in capital (a new server) that can help them better satisfy my needs. 

If I don’t pay them more money, they are typically going to choke off some of my traffic, to ensure that all the other sites don’t go down. 

But what if I could somehow convince the government to order the ISP to treat my Web site “equally” — even though I don’t pay more? 

GO READ THE WHOLE THING.