Could the net neutrality battle kill cloud competition and create SaaS monopolies?

The scorched-earth legal and PR battle currently taking place between Netflix and Verizon makes for some entertaining headlines. But the outcome of this fight will have profound impacts for both end-users and IT professionals. 

One thing that doesn’t get discussed enough is the potential effect that this battle could potentially have over market freedom and competitively within the general SaaS and media space. But before we get into this discussion, let’s look at some of the key areas of conflict that have pushed the Net Neutrality debate to the point where it is today. (Not just for Netflix-Verizon, but for the general ISP industry as a whole).

Consumers and SaaS/Content Providers

The argument from the consumer and SaaS and content provider perspective is simple and easy enough to understand. Consumers are paying for a specific ISP service, and they would like to enjoy the full benefits of …