My Argument In Favor of Net Neutrality

I urge everyone to learn about the issue at hand and I hope you then encourage your government representatives to reinstate #NetNeutrality rules and/or provide something even better.

The idea that the internet is a finite resource is a lie manufactured by ISP's in the USA. Access and Supply are not the same things. The internet is not destined to run out of bits and bytes at any point in time. It's not in any way like clean water or fuel for your car or energy from traditional power-plants for your home. It's also not like a crowded highway in DC or LA. The internet is content to which you're paying for access and the amount of content available for consumption increases every minute of every day and the technology to reach and/or generate that content steadily improves as well.

But a finite resource is exactly how ISP's in the U.S.A. plan to treat the internet and they can because a lack of free-market competition allows them to. The Internet itself is a free market. Anyone with an idea or a product has traditionally had equal opportunity to excel and the FCC now prefers to allow ISP's in the USA to restrict your access to not just products they choose, but ideas. Please read FCC document "Restoring Internet Freedom - Declaratory Ruling, Report and Order, and Order - WC Docket No. 17-10": https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-347927A1.pdf

Around the world, Cable/Satellite TV, Radio and Internet access services have gotten better and less expensive over time. The exception to this rule is in the U.S. market. Telecommunications companies in the U.S.A. have been providing constant excuses for their inefficiencies and capitalism hasn't been allowed to correct them. Competition would have prevented their abuses of power, but this is The United States of America and telecommunications companies have been allowed to use our money with State and local governments to buy influence, achieving a special protected status which shelters them from the realities of a free market. Look around the world (in capitalist/democratic nations) and you'll see that competition works to erase the #digitaldivide. You'll come to realize that true competition wouldn't have allowed ISP's in the U.S.A. to consider restricting your access to content you're already paying a considerable sum of money to access. Given the choices of a free market, what customers would tolerate such behavior?

The larger ISP’s in the U.S.A. plan to artificially induce traffic jams to force tiered service plans where there is no true need for any access tolls. We shouldn't allow ISP's to have the power to block web-sites, slow them down, give some sites an advantage over others, split the Internet into "fast lanes" for companies that pay and "slow lanes" for the rest, or force us to buy special "tiers" to access the sites and services we choose. Free market competition would have resolved this issue before it started, but our ISP's in the U.S.A. don't have true competition. This is why we need #NetNeutrality defined by law and/or regulation.

A well-known example of an abuse of market power was and is the willingness of cable TV/Internet providers (a.k.a. ISP's) to intentionally degrade the streaming quality of NetFlix content due to it being in direct competition with their television services. We (their customers) have essentially become the hostages in ISP negotiations for access. Blocking & throttling by ISP’s is a serious problem. Comcast has throttled Netflix, AT&T blocked FaceTime, Time Warner Cable throttled the popular game League of Legends, and Verizon admitted it would introduce fast lanes for sites that pay-and slow lanes for everyone else once the FCC lifted the rules. This hurts consumers and businesses large and small. This hurts the free exchange of ideas and the future of The United States of America.

If some companies can pay ISP’s to have their content load faster, startups and small businesses that can't pay those fees won't be able to compete fairly. This will hinder the free exchange of ideas and slow the pace of innovation in the U.S.A. This will devastate the open marketplace that has enabled millions of small businesses and created the five most valuable companies in the U.S.A. Without strong #NetNeutrality protections, Internet providers will effectively be able to impose a tax on every sector of the U.S. economy.

Moreover, under Chairman Pai's plan, ISP's will be able to make it more difficult to access political speech that they don't like. They'll be able to charge fees for web-site delivery that would make it harder for blogs, non-profits, artists, and others who can't pay up to have their voices heard.

If the FCC maintains their current stance on #NetNeutrality, every Internet user and business in this country will be unprotected from abuses of power by Internet service providers, and the consequences will be dire. Please publicly support #NetNeutrality protections by denouncing the FCC's current stance. Do whatever you can to reject Chairman Pai, to ensure that businesses and Internet users are protected with #NetNeutrality

Here's an easy to digest video link to help illustrate the issue. It's a bit old, but it is sadly still relevant to the U.S. market: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnN1CoFcdKQ

Thank you!

PS: Remember that competition works best to erase the #digitaldivide (services are supposed to get better & less expensive over time) and competition would do the most to defend #NetNeutrality (given the choice, what customers would tolerate such behavior). Here’s a link to a news article you may find educational: http://www.businessinsider.com/historical-price-trends-for-tech-products-2015-10