Thursday, February 21, 2008

Steven Levy's recent Technologist column ["Pay Per Gig," Business, Jan. 30] on Time Warner's move to metered broadband pricing overlooked the fact that this change is the canary perishing in the digital coal mine. Unless broadband service providers get the green light to invest in intelligently managed networks, a small number of aggressive downloaders using "peer-to-peer" (P2P) applications could make getting basic e-mail a chore for everyone else.

P2P traffic accounts for 50 to 90 percent of Internet traffic. During peak hours, constant P2P traffic from a few computers can make it difficult for other users to complete simple tasks such as downloading music or viewing family photos.

For too many Latino families, the right combination of bandwidth, price and availability is elusive. Given that about 70 percent of Latinos lack broadband service at home, the idea of some users taking P2P "sharing" to absurd levels and driving up the cost for all is galling.

As Mr. Levy mentioned, "net neutrality" supporters criticized Comcast for putting limits on this kind of P2P downloading, protecting everyone else's traffic during peak times. These self-styled champions of "equality" are actually defending the right of a minority of big users who clog the Internet for everyone else. That sounds like "net inequality" to me.

JOSE A. MARQUEZ

President and Chief Executive Officer

Latinos in Information Sciences

and Technology Association

New York