Google, Amazon, congress, small business moveOn.org, the Christian coalition, the American library association, data-intensive, bloggers and major consumer groups are in favour of net neutrality. The co-inventor of the internet also favours net neutrality noting that variable access to content would detract from the internet’s ability to thrive. Advocates argue that differentiated prices would impose heavy cost on bandwidth user such as YouTube, skype and other innovative services, preventing start-up companies from gaining traction. Supporters also indicate without net neutrality, cable companies would block online streaming video from Netflix or Hulu in order to force customers to use cable companies on demand movie rental service.
Censorship increases when network operators can selectively block or slow access to certain content. Cable companies appose network neutrality because they want to charge high prices on the amount of bandwidth consumed by content being delivered via the internet. Internet service providers point to the up rise in piracy of copyrighted materials over the Internet as a reason to oppose network neutrality. Bob Kahn, another co-inventor of the Internet Protocol opposed network neutrality indicating that it removes the incentive for network providers to innovate, provide new capabilities and upgrade to new technology. Reports have indicated that 5 % of their customers use about half the capacity on local lines without paying any more than low-usage customers. Telecommunication and cable companies indicate that metered prices are the right way to finance investment in network infrastructure.
