Regulating Your e-Freedom
On February 26, the FCC voted 3-2 to reclassify the Internet as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 and begin regulating it in much the same way the commission already regulates the electric, telephone, and cable television industries. This vote transforms the FCC into what many are now calling the “Federal Department of the Internet.” Under a plan known as “Net Neutrality,” the regulatory regime has produced over 400 pages of rules to “protect the Internet” and “keep it free and open.” As if freedom and openness ever stem from government regulation that interferes with the free market.
The pretense for this action on the part of the FCC is that some big Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been engaging in practices that some consider unfair. The chief complaints were blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.
Many supporters of Net Neutrality have claimed that these practices threaten the Internet itself as a free and open platform for communication and innovation. These people and organizations have said that users are injured by their ISP’s actions. A close look at each of these practices does not bear out these claims.
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