http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/should-the-government-regulate-net-neutrality Opposing Views - Should the Government Regulate Net Neutrality? http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/what-precipice What's striking about the arguments of all three pro-regulation contributors is that while they adopt the rhetoric of urgency, none of them has offered a specific explanation of what will happen if Congress does not enact new regulations. It may... The Cato Institute Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:22:47 -0600 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/what-precipice http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/there-isn-t-enough-broadband-market-choice-to-prevent-bad-actors The network owners have argued that Network Neutrality is unnecessary because there is sufficient competition in the broadband market to deter bad behavior. They argue that if Verizon degraded access to a site or discriminated... Save the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:26 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/there-isn-t-enough-broadband-market-choice-to-prevent-bad-actors http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-the-catalyst-for-online-innovation In the words of Internet architect Vint Cerf, the Internet allows “innovation without permission.” This genius of the network has proven to be a... Save the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:25 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-the-catalyst-for-online-innovation http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-the-internet-s-first-amendment Consumers take it for granted that every Web site and application on the Internet is treated equally. That’s because it had been that way for much of the Internet's early history. Until 2005 we... Save the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:24 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-the-internet-s-first-amendment http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/internet-policy-is-on-the-precipice Internet policy is on the precipice.  If we fail to take modest, light-touch steps to protect the ‘Net and guarantee openness, we are going to kill the geese that have laid the golden eggs.  This will not... Open Internet Coalition Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:23 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/internet-policy-is-on-the-precipice http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/consumers-deserve-protection In a more perfect network, the telephone and cable companies would be investing in more capacity in order to render these issues moot. In a more perfect marketplace, there would be 4 or 5 high-speed broadband competitors offering consumers ample... Open Internet Coalition Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:22 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/consumers-deserve-protection http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/neutrality-encourages-innovation Too often, the discussion of why we need to protect the open Internet degenerates into a stale debate about regulation versus the free market. In fact, it’s impossible for innovation to continue apace without some basic rules of the... Open Internet Coalition Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:21 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/neutrality-encourages-innovation http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-risks-jobs-union-jobs Think there’s no downside to supporting Net neutrality?  Think again. The 700,000-member Communications Workers of America also opposes Net neutrality. Its members are on the front lines of America’s high-speed roll-out... Hands Off the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:17 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-risks-jobs-union-jobs http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/want-net-neutrality-itll-cost-you If you want more affordable Internet access, then you have to be concerned about higher prices from neutrality regulation.  When Net neutrality emerged in Congress in 2006, a Forrester Research analysis predicted that if Congress... Hands Off the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:15 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/want-net-neutrality-itll-cost-you http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/existing-laws-already-guarantee-your-open-internet This is one of the most overlooked points in the Net neutrality debate: Existing laws and regulations ALREADY GUARANTEE an open Internet.   The Communications Act of 1934 (Title 1) gives the federal government power to protect consumers from... Hands Off the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:14 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/existing-laws-already-guarantee-your-open-internet http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-will-increase-government-monitoring-of-internet-traffic Net neutrality calls for the Federal government to enforce standards on how online data is transmitted.  But to accomplish this, there would have to be a significant increase in federal monitoring of online traffic at all levels to ensure... Hands Off the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:13 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-will-increase-government-monitoring-of-internet-traffic http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-threatens-promising-future-benefits Many of the Internet’s founders have come out against Net neutrality, calling it a threat to future innovation. For example, David Farber at Carnegie Mellon, whom Wired once called “the Paul Revere of the Digital Revolution," has cited the need... Hands Off the Internet Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:12 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-threatens-promising-future-benefits http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/an-open-and-fair-network-is-the-very-heart-of-the-internet 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... Public Knowledge Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:11 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/an-open-and-fair-network-is-the-very-heart-of-the-internet http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-simple-conservative-consumer-protection Here’s Section 202 (a) of the Communications Act:  “It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to make any unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facili... Public Knowledge Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:10 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/net-neutrality-is-simple-conservative-consumer-protection http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-telephone-and-cable-companies-are-alone-on-net-neutrality The mystery about the debate over Net Neutrality is why there is a debate at all.  For seventy years, the concept of not allowing telephone companies to discriminate in their treatment of their customers was enshrined in the Communications Act. Public Knowledge Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:09 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-telephone-and-cable-companies-are-alone-on-net-neutrality http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/beware-the-unintended-consequences-of-regulation History is full of examples of government regulations that had effects very different from what their drafters intended. My favorite example is the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was created in 1887 to regulate the railroads. The Interstate... The Cato Institute Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:06 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/beware-the-unintended-consequences-of-regulation http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/network-neutrality-is-not-in-danger Advocates of regulation greatly underestimate the durability of the Internet’s open architecture. They seem to think that Comcast, AT&T, or other Internet firms can simply flip a switch somewhere and transform the Internet... The Cato Institute Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:05 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/network-neutrality-is-not-in-danger http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/network-neutrality-is-a-technical-principle-not-a-legal-one The phrase “network neutrality” describes an important principle of the Internet’s design: that the routers and switches that make up the network’s core infrastructure should not discriminate among packets based on... The Cato Institute Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:37:04 -0500 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/network-neutrality-is-a-technical-principle-not-a-legal-one