By: Zach McCormick
11/12/14
President Obama recently voiced his support for "net neutrality" (the notion that internet providers should not be allowed to prioritize or censor their users content for profit) and encouraged the FCC to support such measures. A proposal that is, not surprisingly, staunchly opposed by internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon etc.
The idea misses the bigger picture and affords only a temporary fix to a much more insidious problem. Put simply, the idea that information should be freely transmitted is good but the notion that business shouldn't be able to make money in a free market is bad.
Yet, its not quite as simple as that, because the major internet providers don't exactly live in a "free market". In fact one need only try and get one cable/phone company to give you a quote against another cable/phone company to realize that each has a governmentally enforced monopoly in its own arbitrary and anachronistic territory.
Hence, we would probably be better off with a true free market solution as opposed to intrusive government oversight. In the meantime, net neutrality is the best option we've got for keeping information flowing smoothly.
A blog by attorney Zach McCormick covering topics ranging from angry anteaters to zombie zoologists.
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