‘Net Neutrality Reader
There is a lot of talk about the “end of ‘net neutrality” because of the recent announcements made by the United State Federal Communications Commission (FCC). With so much out there, it is often important to sit down and read a few pieces together to gain a better sense of different sides of the issue, rather than reading one or two articles and considering yourself “well informed.” This post provides a starting point for those interested in pursuing the issue a little more deeply.
The latest episodes in this unfortunate techno-religious proclivity are now emerging. One involves an especially egregious hyperbolic excess of the Internet Wars known as Net Neutrality. The winning internet protocol religious faction, having infused the Washington political system with their Templar Knights in 2009, baked their commandments into the embarrassing December 2010 Report & Order of the FCC as “preserving the free and open internet.” “Today the Commission takes an important step to preserve the Internet as an open platform for innovation, investment, job creation, economic growth, competition, and free expression.” Nevermind that they never actually defined “the Internet.” They simply believed that whatever it was, the FCC as a federal government agency needed to “preserve” it as a religious belief to be imposed upon everyone. — Anthony Rutkowski @ CircleIDThe latest episodes in this unfortunate techno-religious proclivity are now emerging. One involves an especially egregious hyperbolic excess of the Internet Wars known as Net Neutrality. The winning internet protocol religious faction, having infused the Washington political system with their Templar Knights in 2009, baked their commandments into the embarrassing December 2010 Report & Order of the FCC as “preserving the free and open internet.” “Today the Commission takes an important step to preserve the Internet as an open platform for innovation, investment, job creation, economic growth, competition, and free expression.” Nevermind that they never actually defined “the Internet.” They simply believed that whatever it was, the FCC as a federal government agency needed to “preserve” it as a religious belief to be imposed upon everyone. —Anthony Rutkowski @ CircleID
No baby boomers had been born when Congress enacted Title II of the Communications Act in 1934 as a means of regulating the Bell telephone monopoly, and the first Millennials were in elementary school when that monopoly was broken up in 1983. Title II was set to die along with plain old telephone service until the Obama administration decided Title II should be used to implement net neutrality — the principle that consumers should have reasonable access to internet functionality. Title II is wholly unsuited to this task, because it doesn’t apply to Silicon Valley companies that control access to many of the internet’s core functionalities. — Fred Campbell @ CircleIDNo baby boomers had been born when Congress enacted Title II of the Communications Act in 1934 as a means of regulating the Bell telephone monopoly, and the first Millennials were in elementary school when that monopoly was broken up in 1983. Title II was set to die along with plain old telephone service until the Obama administration decided Title II should be used to implement net neutrality — the principle that consumers should have reasonable access to internet functionality. Title II is wholly unsuited to this task, because it doesn’t apply to Silicon Valley companies that control access to many of the internet’s core functionalities. —Fred Campbell @ CircleID