Computing

A battle is brewing in the US over the future of the web, and the UK is joining the front line.

As online content providers offer rich media services such as television or video on demand, some US ISPs are claiming that these types of offerings, with much higher bandwidth, need a different approach.

It is being suggested that these services should be charged for – that is, content firms pay ISPs more to ensure quality of service. The content providers, quite understandably, say it is the consumer’s choice, and that the ISP will receive their dues as users buy higher-speed broadband connections.

The fear is that we will end up with a two-tier web, with priority given to the big multinationals who can afford to pay extra. Taken to its logical conclusion, it means popular sites, such as Google or Amazon, paying a premium to be on the web over smaller sites with less traffic.

This is, in almost every way, the antithesis of what the internet is about.

The argument is reaching these shores. Sky’s video over broadband service is already under focus; the BBC’s commercial rivals will no doubt have something to say; and when BT launches its TV on demand service later this year there will no doubt be further scrutiny.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee last week told a conference in Edinburgh on the future of the internet that the web should stay as a single entity, open and equal for all. He should know. It is inevitable that a paid-for internet will attract parochial financial interest, but it would contradict everything that made online companies successful.

It would be like shoppers paying extra to walk down Bond Street because the stores there sell more expensive clothes.

The UK IT community has been at the forefront of the internet revolution, and exploiting the web’s ubiquity and openness is key to our knowledge economy.

We must ensure that short-term commercial interests do not detract from this bright future.