Jonathan Takiff: Defining the Net neutrality debate

THE GIZMO: What's driving the "Net Neutrality" controversy?

GOOGLE EYED: A crowd descended on the Mountain View, Calif., campus of Google last weekend, to present petitions from 300,000-plus signers and denounce the search engine/software giant as a "traitor" to its millions of users/supporters.

The company's sin? Siding with Verizon on a new position statement addressed to the U.S. Congress. The companies are lobbying for legislation that would allow mobile phone service providers to differentiate between the types of traffic being carried on their wireless networks, and to charge some information providers a premium for "fast track" delivery of their content.

Google maintains that its position about "Net Neutrality" - equal access for all Internet information providers - hasn't changed when it comes to "wired" Internet services. In fact, Google is also encouraging Congress to formalize Internet service providers' now voluntary commitment to evenhanded treatment of all who send/receive through cable or phone line systems.

But Verizon and Google argue that all the demanding new technology and services are putting an undue burden on the limited bandwidth of mobile phone companies, overly taxing the system. Somebody's got to pay for the billions in infrastructure buildup needed to keep wireless systems from crashing. Who better to pay than the heaviest users/profiters of the system?

Here are the mobile phone providers they're likely to hit up first.

TV EVERYWHERE: Nothing sucks more bandwidth than downloads and streams of movies and TV shows, a growing phenomenon now sparking people to cut the connection to pay cable and satellite TV. According to Parks Associates, a market research firm, 40 percent of U.S. broadband-connected computer users access at least one TV show or movie on that screen every month.

Streaming video on mobile phones also is possible through services like TV.com and hardware/software solutions like Slingbox, which allows iPhone, Android mobile and BlackBerry owners to remotely watch content streaming via the Internet from their home video sources, like a cable/satellite box.

No one is pushing "TV-to-Go" harder than Netflix, the movie (and TV show) rental service now boasting 15 million subscribers for its discs-by-mail and instant streaming service available for as little as $8.99 a month.

While the initial thrust was to computer users, Netflix has built out its streaming technology to also work on lots of Internet-connected gear in your living room, as well as dedicated streaming video boxes from Roku and TiVo and the red-hot Apple iPad. Netflix has also signed major deals to keep the library of instant access content fresh.

Sensing all that heat from Netflix, cable and satellite TV companies are now developing variations on what they call "TV Everywhere." Subscribers can also view select shows remotely on a computer, a hybrid product like the iPad, and possibly through an app on a mobile phone, at little or no additional cost.

But big players like Verizon Wireless ain't gonna sit still and let this all play out, taxing the delivery system and diminishing the appeal of its own V-Cast mobile video service, unless it can squeeze the Netflix and Comcasts of the world, make some dough on their delivery with the promise of priority treatment.

MOBILE GAMESMANSHIP: Nokia was first to integrate a mobile phone with a video game player, the N-Gage of 2003. Its final version just bit the dust.

Still, the much sleeker and versatile iPhone has proven a very popular game machine for casual players. And this year, other phone developers are cranking up their mobile play options.

Glasses-free 3-D gaming on small mobile phone screens could also be waiting in the wings.

So game delivery represents another primo opportunity for mobile phone companies to put on the squeeze. "You want zippy game downloads, and fast connections to other players? How much are you willing to pay for that, boys?"

STEAMING STREAMING MUSIC: Music streams on the Internet more efficiently than do video or games. Today, numerous Internet radio apps and mobile versions of services like Rhapsody, Pandora, Sirius/XM and newcomer Rdio come through loud, clear and pretty consistently on mobile phones.

But those digital music bits will sure add up to a big mess of traffic congestion, if Apple decides to change the operating model for its iTunes store. In the wake of the company's recent purchase and shutdown of the Lala streaming music service, there's been speculation Apple will soon offer customers instant access to distantly stored ("cloud-based") music instead of making them first download each music file to a computer then transfer it over to their player/phone. That's another huge bargaining opportunity for Verizon Wireless, both as a signal carrier and potential seller of iPhones.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: In recent postings, Google has also suggested two other emerging areas of mobile content delivery, where priority treatment could easily be justified.

One is distance learning. You sure don't want a college lecture breaking up midsentence, nor the screen going blank just when you've been called upon to respond.

And truly "life and death" is remote health diagnosis and monitoring, a burgeoning field that's attracted big players like Intel. Who wouldn't want the message to get through fast, when you've fallen and can't get up?

Send e-mail to takiffj@phillynews.com.