“Net neutrality” sounds nice, fair, workable, and so forth, and has been eloquently backed by Google. Reason enough, then, to break with the “Hands Off the Net” policy under which the internet has flourished? Lest we forget: lines of business reduced to public utility status tend to stagnate [David Boaz, Cato]
4 Comments
The stagnation is wholly due to big business inability to innovate. Google and Facebook would not exist if there was no Net Neutrality.
Thanks to policies pushed mostly by republicans access to the Internet for most has been in stagnation for years. Internet Service Providers (comcast, etc) enjoy monopoly power in most areas in the US. If we forced ISPs to open up their pipes to other Internet Service Providers then net neutrality would solve itself.
Walter,
I sense from your post that you might be open to the idea of joining the very small group of libertarians such as Tim B. Lee who back some basic net neutrality rules. Here’s a piece he wrote that might win you over:
http://www.vox.com/2014/5/6/5678080/voxsplaining-telecom
If you’re particularly interested in the nitty-gritty of how the market for bit-moving works, you might find this profile of Cogent Communications I wrote back when I was at Forbes interesting as well.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1013/064.html
Best,
Scott Woolley
For a somewhat whimsical, but rather accurate, presentation of the issues regarding Net Neutrality in a way that anybody can understand see this 11 minute video: