[Mark @ Jan 6th 2006 12:51PM]

"Not that we want to see this, but perhaps focusing on a better anti-Skype strategy would be more appropriate."



They already have an anti-Skype strategy: block (or downgrade) any VOIP traffic that isn't their own. Network neutrality, you say? There's no law mandating it, and the FCC doesn't look like it will enforce it, so there's no such thing.



They could do this. They could absolutely do this. Of course, customers would just flock to their competitors if (say) Google stopped being available through Verizon's network because the company chose not to pay Verizon's access tax, so they'd have to do it in concert with other internet backbone companies. And that would certainly look like a trust, which would violate the law. But it would probably be a few years before the government prosecuted them (particularly with the telecomm lobby in Congress encouraging them to look the other way) and it would take another several years before a decision was brought, appealed, and appealed again. In the meantime, all sorts of damage would be done to companies like Google, AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Maybe enough damage that they'd just go ahead and pay the tax, or (better yet) merge with the telecomm companies so that they could be the ones blocking out access to their competitors. This could easily get very, very ugly.