The Net Neutrality Wake-up Call
The Net Neutrality Wake-up Call
Sometime in the summer of 2002, having just graduated from university and determined to change the world, I was driving home from Albert Lea, Minnesota formulating my resignation letter.
After graduating I had, rather naively I suppose, assumed that politics was the best means to effect the change I desired, and so had taken a job on a significant political campaign. The work was hardly glamorous – lots of parades and handing out stickers – but that meeting in Albert Lea, where I had to listen to a local bemoan how immigrants were ruining the country, force a smile and say “The [candidate] hears your concerns” or some other sort of drivel, was simply too much. Real politics, I had come to learn, was a whole lot different than the ideal I imagined as an editor of the university paper. Real politics was about looking naked bigotry in the face, and somehow controlling my gag reflex.
So I quit.
Last week the FCC held a hearing about Net Neutrality, complete with protesters and stern editorials from tech sites everywhere. The message was uniform: net neutrality must be preserved, no ifs ands or buts. It was all deeply unserious.
I’ve written and spoken about net neutrality a fair bit at this point – see Netflix and Net Neutrality , or listen to this podcast – so I won’t dwell on this specific point for too long, but the basic issue is that broadband capacity needs continue to increase, which requires ongoing investment. It ought to go without saying, but said investment is not free; I understand and in principle agree with the argument that internet access should be regulated as a common carrier under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, but that does not address the need for ongoing broadband investment, and calls for reclassification, to be taken seriously, must include proposals for ensuring the US doesn’t fall even further behind the rest of the world in broadband penetration, speed, and capacity.
Specifically:
- Government control of the “last mile” would guarantee net neutrality, but then taxes must cover the investment necessary for upgrading our infrastructure. If this is the best plan, then calls for net neutrality ought to be combined with local activism pressing city and state governments to prioritize funding accordingly
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