This precedent (including CloudFlare's new private routing) doesn't bode well for the public internet.
Imagine the day when everyone has to use private routing and the public internet barely even gets maintained anymore.
Of course, public internet also suffers tragedy of the commons and not much is happening on that front. Like how most people are still behind ISPs that allow their customers to spoof IP addresses. And nobody has reason to give a shit. We're getting pinned between worst of both worlds. It's a shame.
Net neutrality is violated IMO when only those who can afford it get faster routing [1]. The only form of price discrimination allowed is at the ends - you pay a certain amount for bandwidth and volume to your ISP or hoster. Inbetween, if you are an end customer, there is just this amorphous peering-net internet blob, where you pay market price to have stuff routed. You shouldn't care what route it takes, and the net shouldn't care what data you are sending. There are no pricing tiers.
Sure, Google is allowed to route stuff on their private net, or on the peered net. They can let other people use their private network, it happens all the time. They are not violating the letter of anything. But it is a slippery slope, and it can lead to a two-class internet, where some people can afford the "good" internet and some people can't.
[1] Edit: and I realize, in parts that is already the way it is. If you are doing high-frequency-trading, or sending huge amounts of research/big-data data, then you can pay somebody beyond paying your ISP for volume and throughput, and they will give you a custom connection. Net neutrality is not a black-white question.
This isn't about the last mile so there is presumably lots of competition. And it seems like some companies being large enough to build their own is another form of that?
But I'm just responding with another armchair argument. It would be good to see some actual numbers about Internet health.
Imagine the day when everyone has to use private routing and the public internet barely even gets maintained anymore.
Of course, public internet also suffers tragedy of the commons and not much is happening on that front. Like how most people are still behind ISPs that allow their customers to spoof IP addresses. And nobody has reason to give a shit. We're getting pinned between worst of both worlds. It's a shame.