The Beeb's iPlayer and Network Neutrality

So the BBC recently launched the iPlayer, which enables UK residents to watch (for free, and legally) full length video of shows they missed on the television.

However, major Internet service providers like Tiscali UK and Carphone Warehouse are reportedly threatening to restrict their users' downloading practices unless BBC pays for part of the bandwidth necessary for shuttling these large files.

This is an example of an issue involving network neutrality. At one level, it is a question of whether or not broadband operators ought to be able to charge content and application makers (not the broadband subscribers) extra fees to deliver their content, particularly when it has the potential to consume loads of bandwidth. (My answer would have to be no - simply because these telcos have already charged the downstream subscribers for the broadband. We've already payed for that bandwidth! Why should we be denied content, downloaded through bandwidth we pay for, simply because the content providers wouldn't want to be doublecharged?)

At a more fundamental level, it is a question of whether or not these broadband operators should even have the right to discriminate (hence the call for "neutrality") between the types of content passing through their networks. My answer again is no -Because this would mean corporations would have the last say on the content and shape of discourse online.