Creator of the World Wide Web Calls Internet Fast Lanes "Bribery"

If I were standing in front of an auditorium full of people and posed the question, "How many of you are in favor of Internet fast lanes?", I'd have to imagine that not a single hand would be raised. Well, unless someone who stands to profit from such mechanics is present, of course.

Most people (rightly) believe that the Internet should be open. One website shouldn't be slower than another just because its owner can't afford (or didn't want to pay) a premium fee de-clog the lanes that people use to access their site or service. The mere thought of that is absurd, at least to me, but there's been the potential of it becoming a reality, and very few people are pleased.

(Credit: j-o-n-o)

You can count World Wide Web creator Timothy Berners-Lee as part of that group. He recently said that fast lanes are simple bribery, and it's really hard to disagree. If sites need to pay to ensure that their viewers can connect to them effectively, then the entity that can pay the most will win. "Is the Internet open?' Will they have to effectively bribe their ISPs to start a new service? That's what it looks like from the outside."

There's no question that when Tim created this masterpiece we call the World Wide Web, he sure didn't envision paywalls throttling parts of it. Once again, consumers know that net neutrality is important, and we need the Internet to keep the way it has been - open, and fair.