The Internet Doesn’t Need A Referee
“The Internet isn’t provided free of charge; it’s property, built to return a profit by satisfying customers,” says Thomas Dolan writing for Barron’s. “That’s why it works so well. It doesn’t need a referee.”
Dolan is referring to the FCC’s decision to ignore a federal court ruling and grant itself net neutrality powers. The motivation for that move, according to the FCC, is to keep internet service providers from discriminating against certain types of internet services by blocking or inhibiting access to them. But the internet runs on customer satisfaction. Internet service providers who don’t give the web surfing public what they want will soon find themselves abandoned for ISP’s who do.
Of course, we’d be foolish to believe that the FCC’s net neutrality power grab was truly about protecting consumers. Much of what the FCC currently does is unnecessary and harmful to free communication markets, but with the rise of cable television, satellite television and radio and now the internet (which allows access to television, radio and all manner of other content) the FCC’s control over national communications has been increasingly weakened.
Net neutrality is the foot in the door for the FCC that will move it from the sidelines of America’s communications mediums, where it has languished since the decline of broadcast mediums, to the center.
Net neutrality needs to be undone.
Related: If the FCC Had Regulated the Internet
Tags: fcc, internet, net neutrality
