If you plan on becoming rich and famous by creating the next big online data visualization or analysis application, then you better hurry up.  Seems as though the FCC is about to hand the key to the internet over to AT&T and Comcast, giving them free reign to charge us all to oblivion with mobile internet costs.

Instead of a rule to protect Internet users’ freedom to choose, the Commission has opened the door for broadband payola – letting phone and cable companies charge steep tolls to favor the content and services of a select group of corporate partners, relegating everyone else to the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

Instead of protecting openness on wireless Internet devices like the iPhone and Droid, the Commission has exempted the mobile Internet from Net Neutrality protections. This move enshrines Verizon and AT&T as gatekeepers to the expanding world of mobile Internet access, allowing them to favor their own applications while blocking, degrading or de-prioritizing others.

If you think this is a bit paranoid and extremist, just check out this slide Wired got from a recent presentation by Allot Communications & Openet of a proposed new pricing scheme of 2c per MB for Facebook, showing them charging by the bit for various data services.

UPDATE: If you don’t quite get Net Neutrality, then read this excellent letter from Steve Wozniak (one of the founders of Apple Computer) who breaks it down simply.  More than just packets are on the line here, it’s the public’s perception of the government fighting for the people and not for the wealthy businesses. The cables are run, the lines are already there, just let us keep using them.

via Timothy Karr: Obama FCC Caves on Net Neutrality — Tuesday Betrayal Assured.

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