Should the Government Regulate Net Neutrality?

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An open and non-discriminatory network is the very heart of the Internet.  It’s why we have the Internet we have today, why the culture of “innovation without permission” allowed the Internet to turn into the freewheeling, distributed network in which anyone with an idea can try it out without kowtowing to the telephone or cable company.  Do away with that, as the telephone and cable companies want to do, and the Internet as we know it goes away.  It’s that simple.  The control over what consumers see and do online would pass from the consumer to the telephone and cable companies.

There is no reason for that result.  AT&T has labored under Net Neutrality rules for the last two years.  They haven’t been harmed. Their second quarter 2008 earnings per share were up 34 percent from a year ago.  They even had $6 billion to buy back stock shares.  Imagine if that was invested in the network.  (This is the same AT&T, by the way, that wants to examine every packet that every consumer sends across the network, looking out for the interests of its pals in the entertainment industry.  But that’s another story.)  AT&T has been able to manage its network, and to prosper, under a Net Neutrality regime.  

So let government take its rightful role of protecting the consumer once again.  Let’s reinstate non-discrimination principles under the Net Neutrality banner.  Then we can move on to the real issues of creating more competition and choice for consumers.