Although my extremely, um, exclusive readership has had their eyes glaze over with all my talk of net neutrality, it is finally starting to get some attention in the MSM. Too often, and too predictably, editorials on the subject have repeated the boilerplate “they are taking away our Internet!” rhetoric.
The Washington Post has taken a refreshing turn in a new editorial, “The Internet's Future”, subtitled “Congress should stay out of cyberspace.”
The advocates of neutrality suggest, absurdly, that a non-neutral Internet would resemble cable TV: a medium through which only corporate content is delivered. This analogy misses the fact that the market for Internet connections, unlike that for cable television, is competitive: More than 60 percent of Zip codes in the United States are served by four or more broadband providers that compete to give consumers what they want -- fast access to the full range of Web sites, including those of their kids' soccer league, their cousins' photos, MoveOn.org and the Christian Coalition. If one broadband provider slowed access to fringe bloggers, the blogosphere would rise up in protest -- and the provider would lose customers. [emphasis mine]
An argument based on facts and market economics. Can it be? I am thrilled.
I have said before that broadband penetration is proceeding apace, and to use this as an argument for neutrality legislation is both factually inaccurate and off-topic. Keep in mind, neutrality legislation does nothing to incent anyone to string fiber down your street.
More to the point, we are doing fine and trending upward. To tell the network builders what they can and can’t do with their pipes can only slow it down. Even with all the alarmist rhetoric, consumers really do have the final say.
"exclusive readership has had their eyes glaze over with all my talk of net neutrality"
No it hasn't, I just wish your posts were on Slashdot, it would have put things in perspective for those who are corporate phobic, and believe that there isn't any competition in the ISP realm, and that we must surrender control of the Internet to the ever-effecient reins of the federal government.
They (Slashdotters)act as if the consumer is utterly retarded and complain of the monopolist practices.
Posted by: goldendroplets | 12 June 2006 at 05:24 PM
Wow, you know, that never occurred to me. Should I wade into those often-adolescent waters?
Hmm. I have yet to figure out a good way to begin a conversation with someone who fundamentally does not want to understand a free market. I'll give this one some thought...
Posted by: Matt S | 12 June 2006 at 08:43 PM
We don't need to meet again for we are just passers by.To forget is the best commemoration for each other.
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