Net Neutrality Comments: Amazon.com Believes That Only Consumers Should Prioritize Internet Traffic

WASHINGTON, January 15, 2010 – Amazon.com is another supporter of network neutrality, and has historically urged the FCC to support this principle.

A lack of competition among providers is the principal reason why the web sales company favors government intervention: if consumers had a reasonable choice of providers the free market could solve the problem. Consumers should be able to internally prioritize their traffic, the company writes:

“We believe  it  appropriate  to  apply  the  same principle within  the networks managed by broadband Internet access service providers:  content may be favored, so long as doing so causes  no  harm  –  e.g.,  delays  in  transmission  or  other  reductions  in  quality  –  to  other content.  The only exception to this rule would be at an individual user’s choice:  a user could  explicitly  choose  to  have  some  content  favored  over  other  content  that  the  user might  receive,  but  only  so  long  as  the  favoring  of  that  content would  not  harm  other users’  content.   Put  another way,  if  a  network  operator  favors  some  content,  doing  so must  not  harm  any  other  content  with  respect  to  any  users,  but  if  a  particular  user explicitly chooses to have some content favored, there must be no harm to content for or from any other user.”

It is important to note that in addition to their primary sales business, Amazon.com has also become a major cloud computing data provider and is expanding into video delivery.

FCC Filing: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=6015522604

Editor’s Note: Don’t miss the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club event, “Net Neutrality, Copyright Protection and the National Broadband Plan,” on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Register here.