The Internet is grown up, and providers who transport their services over existing telecommunications infrastructure should pay a toll in the form of contributions to the Universal Service Fund, according to Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America.
"The Internet is not an infant industry anymore. It can certainly bear the burden of making sure that wires and the communications mediums are there," Cooper said, adding it would be "legitimate" to tax Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) and other high bandwidth companies.
High bandwidth users are targets because "that's discretionary consumption," he said, using "the exact same logic that was used in the old days for whacking a toll."
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