This Thursday, Feb. 26, will be a fateful day for the future of the Internet. In the nearly 40 years that I have been involved in communications law and policy, including serving as the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) associate general counsel, this action, without a doubt, is one of the agency’s most misguided.
The sad reality is that, without any convincing evidence of market failure and consumer harm, the FCC is poised, on a 3-2 party-line vote, to expand its control over Internet providers in ways that threaten the Internet’s future growth and vibrancy.
Here is the nub of the matter: By choosing to regulate Internet providers as old-fashioned public utilities in order to enforce “neutrality” mandates, the commission will discourage private-sector investment and innovation for many years to come, if only as a result of the litigation that will be spawned and the uncertainty that will be created. And the new government mandates inevitably will lead to even more than the usual special interest pleading at the FCC, as Internet companies try to advantage themselves and disadvantage their competitors by seeking favored regulatory treatment.
‘Net neutrality’ is no ‘mistake’ no ‘miscalculation’ no ‘misguided effort’. It is a deliberate, calculated detailed strategy to strangle the ONLY remaining venue of TRULY free speech. Anyone who believes otherwise is either a useful idiot or a craven liar. Combat requires you to shoot, move and communicate. To thwart these tools of patriots who may oppose the criminals in power a number of actions have occurred and more are in progress. To limit shooting……gun control, magazine limits, hollow point bans and the most recent criminality….the ban on M855 ammo. To impede communications……the pervasive surveillance of ALL media,cellphones and NOW the throttling of the internet. To stop movement…..the Real ID requirement….. An internal passport by which DHS will prevent people from traveling without permission…..Ihre Papierre, Bitte.
Nothing happens by accident and everything serves an agenda.