Don't slow the Internet with regulation

What do the following three stories of the last few days have in common?

• Yesterday, Reuters quoted Google's head of TV Technology, Vincent Dureau, saying: "the Web infrastructure, and even Google's (infastructure) doesn't scale. Its not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect." in an article that highlighted new Internet TV services of Joost and YouTube.
• Tuesday, USA Today had a front page story that WalMart was launching a service in conjuction with major studios to allow downloading of movies the same day as DVDs are released and the next day for TV shows through WalMart.com.  
• USA Today also reported Tuedsay that TiVo and Amazon were launching a new service for letting online users download movies to their DVRs and then watch them on their TVs rather than their computers.

What's the common thread? Its obvious that the capacity of the Internet will have to increase exponentially and rapidly to handle the coming exponential increase in traffic generated by Internet video.

• Why is demand increasing exponentially? Downloading one half hour sitcom consumes 1700 times the Internet bandwidth as pulling up an average website. A one hour HD TV show would require 17,000 times the Internet bandwidth as pulling down a website.
• This is precisely what Bret Swanson of the Discovery Institute has dubbed "The Coming Exaflood" in his excellent WSJ op ed of January 20th.

What should matter the most to those who depend on the Internet is that it remain fast. Period.

• Don't slow the Internet with regulation.
• There is nothing about net neutrality that speeds the Internet; regulatory red tape will only slow it down.