The Internet Superhighway! Similar to the famed Geman Autobahn, which allows you to travel as fast as your engine and vehicle will allow; with the internet, your computer is your vehicle, and your connection is your engine. Websites are merely stops along the ride, and you can get from one to the next just as quickly as your vehicle will allow.

     Until now?

     What if telecommunications giants like Time Warner, AT&T, Bell South, and Verizon had the ability to dictate whose websites load quickly and perform better based on who have paid for the bandwidth usage?

     Well, they do.

     These telecom companies want to charge websites for the speedy delivery of streaming video, television, movies and other high-bandwidth data in an effort to be compensated for the cost of maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure that makes all this possible. How does this affect you? Webites such as Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. are not going to eat the cost of this service, they will pass this on to consumers. This means higher prices for consumers all across the economy, because companies will be charging more for online advertising.
     Not to mention slow websites for those who haven't paid up. Independent bloggers, webcomics, and similar low-budget sites will be the hardest hit, with viewer/readership levels sure to plummet, as well as smaller businesses who will lose business because the websites don't perform like their large corporation competitors.
     In April, a measure submitted by Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts was rejected by a House subcommittee that would have prevented these companies from being able to charge this. Let's hope that other officials get on board so that Congress may vote to prevent this from happening.