• Forbes.com, Monday, February 5, 2007 11:01 AM

Information Super Traffic Jam? Perhaps. While we (as consumers and Internet media professionals) applaud the progress of network neutrality, it's not an inducement to telecom and cable companies to improve their networks. In fact, big telecom could counter the net neutrality movement by moving upgrades along at a snail's pace, or worse, abandoning them altogether, creating bottlenecks throughout the Web.

As gaming and online video services become more mainstream, more bandwidth is being used, which means that Internet slowdowns, absent substantial new infrastructure investments and deployment, could become a reality this year, says financial services firm Deloitte & Touche.

Indeed, the "Save the Internet" campaign being pushed by Google, MoveOn.org and the rest of the Web's publishers ignores the simple fact that the Internet doesn't need to be saved, it needs to be improved.

Says Kerpen: "An attempt to "save" the Internet in its current state would be something akin to saving the telegraph from the telephone." Experts say language implicit in certain net neutrality bills at the very least discourages, and in some cases prevents, such innovation. With no business incentive to invest in the future, the Web's future could be bleak.

Read the whole story at Forbes.com »