Internet Freedom at Risk

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA



Rational Nation has posted in the past on the issue of freedom in the press and the internet. I have commented on the progressives desire to control information through either the the Fairness Doctrine and or the so called Net  Neutrality. These articles can be found here and here.

These concerns are reaching a new heightened level Monday with the the FCC's plans to take steps  to significantly  increase the feds reach into the internet by expanding its regulatory control. The following is an excerpt from Robert M. McDowell's op ed article in the Wall Street Journal.  As the article points out the ramifications of such intrusion into the internet should alarm us all.
Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.
How did the FCC get here?
For years, proponents of so-called "net neutrality" have been calling for strong regulation of broadband "on-ramps" to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast.
Nothing is broken that needs fixing, however. The Internet has been open and freedom-enhancing since it was spun off from a government research project in the early 1990s. Its nature as a diffuse and dynamic global network of networks defies top-down authority. Ample laws to protect consumers already exist. Furthermore, the Obama Justice Department and the European Commission both decided this year that net-neutrality regulation was unnecessary and might deter investment in next-generation Internet technology and infrastructure.
Analysts and broadband companies of all sizes have told the FCC that new rules are likely to have the perverse effect of inhibiting capital investment, deterring innovation, raising operating costs, and ultimately increasing consumer prices. Others maintain that the new rules will kill jobs. By moving forward with Internet rules anyway, the FCC is not living up to its promise of being "data driven" in its pursuit of mandates—i.e., listening to the needs of the market.
It wasn't long ago that bipartisan and international consensus centered on insulating the Internet from regulation. This policy was a bright hallmark of the Clinton administration, which oversaw the Internet's privatization. Over time, however, the call for more Internet regulation became imbedded into a 2008 presidential campaign promise by then-Sen. Barack Obama. So here we are.
The full text can be found here.

This issue sure ought to be of more concern than the FLOTUS's attempt to educate on the daners of chilhood obesity.

Via: Memeorandum

Comments

  1. Les: When the Government is "quiet" about something, like children, they are up to something! So, here we go, or should I say, there IT goes, the internet, that is!

    One day we'll be telling our grandchildren... "I remember the days when we used to be able to log on and just browse..."

    ReplyDelete
  2. There was never any reason to write my senators before (Byrd and Rockefeller), since they did what they darn-well wanted anyway. Maybe we can hope for more from Manchin. Time will tell.

    ReplyDelete

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