Summary
Professor Barbara van Schewick weighs in on T-Mobile’s plan to allow large companies to stream without affecting data plans for The National Journal.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere bragged Tuesday that he’s giving consumers “exactly what they want” by letting them watch popular video services like Netflix and HBO on their mobile devices without counting it against their monthly data packages.
But consumer advocates pounced on the new “Binge On” program, warning that it could tilt the Internet in favor of the biggest companies, violating the principle of net neutrality.
“As it stands, it looks like a net-neutrality violation right now,” said Barbara van Schewick, a professor at Stanford Law School and a leading net-neutrality supporter. “The essence of net neutrality is that we don’t want Internet service providers to pick winners and losers.”
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But van Schewick warned that the technical requirements to participate could be onerous for fledgling startups, and small companies in other countries might not even know the program exists. In the long run, T-Mobile’s program could give major media companies a big leg up, ultimately leading to less innovation online, she said. “As a customer, you ultimately lose if there are less video-streaming services available,” she argued.
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