In Case You Didn't Know, Not All Tech Firms Are The Same

from the different-customers,-different-viewpoints dept

As the network neutrality debate rages on with high stakes posturing on both sides -- but with neither addressing the real issue (the lack of real competition in the telco world, thanks to telcos abusing the monopoly rights of way they were given) -- it's been interesting to see various companies come out on one side or the other of the debate. The telcos are obviously against network neutrality rules. Many web-based companies are for them, as they'd prefer not to have to pay even more than they already do to make sure people can use their services unfettered online. However, somewhere along the way, it seems that some people in the press decided that "tech companies" were for network neutrality. That's why News.com has this article where the reporter seems positively shocked that some tech companies would come out against network neutrality legislation. Of course, then you look at the companies, which include the likes of Cisco and Qualcomm. Then it becomes clear: they're the suppliers of the big telcos. If there's no network neutrality in the law, guess who will be supplying the routers to the telcos to prioritize certain traffic over others? That's why it's important in this debate not to assume that "tech" companies are all the same. Hell, you could make the argument that many of the telcos are more "tech" than many of the web companies. This isn't a battle of tech vs. telco, but of two different views over how a key component of a network we all rely on should work.