Barry Diller says Net Neutrality should be enshrined in law

THE CHAIRMAN OF IAC (Inter Active Corporation), Barry Diller has spoken out about net neutrality and called for one rule to guarantee that all Internet traffic is treated equally.

Speaking at the South by Southwest conference (SXSW) and reported by the Telegraph newspaper, Diller, who runs the firm that controls Ask.com, video site Vimeo and others said, "We need an unambiguous rule - a law - that nobody will step between the publisher and the consumer, full stop."

Diller was speaking out against rules that would let some Internet service providers create a fast lane for preferred, in other words high value or paid-for content. Although this would be fine for any companies with pockets deep enough to support such endeavours, it would in effect create a ghetto for second class and non-paying users' traffic and services.

Diller added that asking content providers to pay a continual loan-shark like vigourish toll for access to faster network services would be like "asking the toaster to pay for the electricity".

The current austerity obsessed UK Government, which given the opportunity would probably take candy from a baby, predictably supports two-tiered Internet traffic 'management', as do the large ISPs like Comcast and Verizon who are, of course, arguing vociferously and lobbying fiercely against any ban on letting them charge whatever they can for high quality of service.

Sensible thinkers without such vested financial interests, however, are dead set against it. µ