Who owns the Internet pipes?

Tenuous Peer Agreements - the Internet is Fragile: Remeber when Level 3 severed it's peer connections with Cogent citing that the existing business model wasn't advantageous? Millions of users couldn't access portions of the web, anyone who used Level 3 or Cogent, for many days resulting in mind boggling financial loses. It's disadvantageous for companies to do that...

...so long as there aren't any behemoths. Any sufficiently well funded ISP here could hold the world hostage if they negotiate their peer sharing arrangements carefully. I don't think anybody has a clue how precarious this situation is. Legally there is nothing preventing something like Level 3 negotiating an unholy alliance with say Verizon to force the other providers into unfair peer contracts. Half of these contracts are gentlemen's agreements - like the one between Level 3 and Cogent, and either can sever connections for any reason they want without facing any legal repurcussions.

Think about it.; Posted by: daver_z Posted on: 04/07/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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Monopoly vs. Neutrality marlinj@... | 04/10/06

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