Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Blowing smoke on net neutrality

Baltimore Business Journal
"Why should I have to pay a special higher premium toll for something that's basically essential to my business?" said Miller, now president of the D.C.-based Career College Association.

But that's already happening on the Internet, argued Bill McComas, a technology lawyer at Baltimore firm Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler. Companies commonly pay for what is known as search-engine optimization -- in which that fee allows their Web site to become a more popular result in a Web search.

What McComas is referring to is search engine optimization, which is entirely separate from net neutrality. Search engine optimization has to do with designing your website in such a way as to make it accessible to search engine spiders. Net neutrality has to do with with Internet Service Providers treating all web traffic the same. The best way to take something away from the public is to convince the public it is already gone. By conflating net neutrality with search engine optimization, McComas clearly hopes to confuse the public. The question is, can he get away with it?

No comments: