Internet wars?
The 3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to regulate the Internet as a public utility was hailed as a victory for consumers and derided as "a depressing moment for economic innovation and economic liberty," the latter comment coming in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal editorial.
Netflix, the online powerhouse providing entertainment programming to tens of millions of Americans, could not see it more differently than the WSJ.
"The net neutrality debate is about who picks winners and losers online: Internet service providers or consumers. Today, the FCC settled it: Consumers win," read the Netflix statement.
The fact is, both sides have a point. The effort by the FCC to regulate an Internet market that until now has been directed by customers, innovators and investors is cause for concern, particularly using a regulatory format dating to another century and older technologies. The bureaucracy created to prevent "unjust or unreasonable practices" could be immense, the lawsuits it breeds plentiful.
Yet doing nothing also presented a danger. Left unchecked, the cable companies and wireless carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile - the gatekeepers of the Internet - could assume control over and massive profits from the Internet by auctioning off faster traffic speeds to the highest bidders and slowing or blocking those who refuse to pay or play. The new regulations ban such practices.
Online service companies argued that without federal intervention "net neutrality" was at risk, meaning the ability of anyone to move information across the Internet in an unfettered market. President Obama agreed and called for FCC protection of net neutrality in both of his campaigns. The Thursday vote was partisan, Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
While net neutrality is a wonderful idea, say the cable and telecommunications companies, the fact is that streaming videos on Netflix, YouTube and the like are demanding more digital space, and they should share the cost, through fees, of upgrading telecom hardware. Netflix generates about one-third of all Internet traffic.
The public will have a keen interest in how this plays out, both in the courts and in practice. It could prove to be another issue for the 2016 congressional and presidential elections. Adjustments, or a complete retrenchment, are possible if this turns out be an FCC overreach.
The Internet wars may have just begun.
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