There’s a lot of chatter about “Net Neutrality” lately as the Telecommunications Act is being overhauled because there’s nothing else to do in Washington. I’m sure there are real reasons for this rewriting of the act, but I don’t care to know the details.
For those who don’t know about “Net Neutrality” you can read about it on Wikipedia. In short, the idea is that the Internet is a “level playing field” – as in there’s no preference or precedence in how (or what) data gets to you. What everyone is worried about is that a broadband provider (such as Comcast or SBC) will prioritize traffic on their pipes based on customer or content.
To clarify, I’m not against Net Neutrality. Any sane person who enjoys the Internet should not be against the concept of Net Neutrality. However, what most advocates (see savetheinternet.org) want is for the U.S. government to legislate by writing neutrality clauses into law. That’s my problem.
Being a Republican (and don’t misconstrue that with being a supporter of the current administration’s policies), I hate to see the government act beyond it’s mandate. Legislation is a tool to resolve problems that have been identified and played out, not to create new law where there’s no just cause. Take a look at the Bill of Rights. Those were not “crap, this could happen to us” issues. They were issues that many men and women faced on a daily basis, eventually dying for — the basis for this great Nation.
Now, to play devil’s advocate, these Internet providers (Comcast, Brighthouse, SBC, etc.) are bearing the load of the Internet. Maintaining the infrastructure, upgrading to improve performance and meet the demands of the consumer is a costly proposal. From a business perspective, the economies of the situation don’t make much sense to me. I’d attempt to draw an analogy, but quite frankly, I’m tired, I have a headache and it’s not as simplistic as say free refills on soda.
I think ultimately, this issue will work itself out in the marketplace. If any company actually follows through with creating a tiered Internet (as if we don’t already have one), then let’s talk about it in Congress.
