In the absence of net neutrality there is also the possibility that an ISP could redirect users to their preferred affiliates, or prevent them from seeing certain websites, like porn. “It provides an opportunity for service providers at the highest level to effectively segment buckets of traffic and charge accordingly,” says Scott Rabinowitz, Partner and Media Buyer at CyberStampede.com. “Or alter policies on whether or not they are willing to accept such high bandwidth, as crazy as that might seem.” Though Rabinowitz muses that something like this would not only be impractical but also incite severe backlash.
Unregulated consumption is the prevailing attitude when it comes to the Internet. Since bandwidth has become reasonable, paying extra for it feels like a backwards move. Adult companies, fun as they seem, are at their core businesses. “If cost became prohibitively high again like it was in the 1990s, it would affect content quality, or companies would pass along the added expense,” says Rabinowitz. “And that may not be a realistic or desirable thing to charge more for, effectively, the same thing.” At a certain point, fans will put their wallets away.
“Imagine if a core utility service that the average household relies on, whether it be telephone, electricity, gas, water, or sewage could be throttled in this type of fashion,” says Rabinowitz. “Imagine if your plumbing could be slowed down to a grinding halt because the service provider upstream decided that certain people should pay more than others.” No one wants to be in the slow lane, but some companies won’t have a choice. They’ll be stuck with the plumbing they can afford.