Internet victory over Time Warner

Media giant Time Warner Cable was forced to back down from its recent price-gouging scheme they called ‘consumption based billing’ under which internet users would be billed upon the amount of bandwidth they used.

Because of pressure from internet users around the country, Time Warner had to abandon its latest plan to maximize profits. Congress received letters from all over the country asking that an investigation be launched into Time Warner.

If successful, the cable company would have been able to charge internet users for access that went beyond basic web use and email access. Under this plan, subscribers would be charged for actual broadband usage by the gigabyte rather than the current flat monthly fee. How big a victory is this? The next time your streaming music or watching video clips on YouTube think about what it would cost you to pay by the gigabyte.

Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable television operator in the country, was met with protests from the public as well as US Congress. Congressman Eric Massa (D), who represents Rochester, stated, ‘We’re delighted that commonsense prevailed,’ Massa said, calling the cancellation a ‘true grassroots victory.’

Net Neutrality is one of the pressing issues of our time and represents a new type of struggle, while this latest attempt by Time Warner has failed; you can be sure this is going to be an ongoing battle.