The Caledonian Record of St. Johnsbury (Vt.), Feb 12:
President Obama and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler are making another bid to take over the Internet through “net neutrality” regulation and rulemaking fiat.
The FCC says it must have power over Internet and cable companies (ISP’s) to prevent them from discriminating against certain data, companies or content. Proponents of “net neutrality” say they stand for “open Internet.” They say ISP’s are in a position to “close” the Internet if they choose to.
But this is purely a scare tactic in a historic power play. As Robert McDowell, former FCC commissioner points out, “market failures like these have never happened, and nothing is broken that needs fixing. If consumers were being harmed by ISPs, ample antitrust, competition and consumer protection laws already exist to fix the problem. And major broadband providers have pledged, in their terms of service, to keep the Net open and freedom-enhancing. Why? Because it is good business to do so.
“The Internet is the greatest deregulatory success story of all time ”“ a simple fact that vexes those seeking new and unnecessary rules,” McDowell says.
The real play, as it was during the FCC’s “Fairness Doctrine” reign of terror, is for bureaucratic control over speech. As McDowell points out of the FCC’s longstanding regulation over broadcast companies’ speech over the “public” airwaves, “Even in today’s competitive and digitized media markets, broadcasters must adhere to strict rules dictating speech, or risk losing their licenses.”
We wouldn’t exactly call that free or open.
The other advantage for Obama, and liberals generally of course, is a windfall of new taxes and an expansion of federal bureaucracy that comes with increased regulation.
The bottom line is that we trust free market forces to guarantee an open web far more than we trust the government. To argue otherwise is to ignore the history of both.
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