Evidence and economic theory suggests that control of the Internet by the phone and cable companies would lead to blocking of competing technologies.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Without network neutrality, cable and phone companies could stifle innovation.
Any 'network neutrality' rule should be designed to forbid phone or cable companies from controlling the Internet.
As each year and debate passes, more broadband companies will start to see that their future lies not in restricting an open Internet but in betting on it.
The Internet provides the access to resources, so it's incumbent upon the people who control those resources to make sure that the economic engine stays intact.
Cable and satellite businesses are competing against fixed-line telephone companies and wireless companies.
I fear that light touch regulations that have allowed the Internet to prosper will now be replaced by a heavy hand that stifles innovation and does not adapt well to change. The Internet is not broken.
At its core, the FCC's plan to regulate the Internet will force businesses and people to check first with the government and get permission to innovate.
Look at electricity in human history - it took a few decades for electricity to really revolutionize the American economy. And the Internet will be the same. At some point in the future, we will arrive at a new era of low-hanging fruit.
The thing we have to be careful of is that the Internet is a global communications medium, and if one country tips the balance in regulating its use or regulating what companies or individuals do on the web, it could have an economic impact that might be unintended, quite frankly, by the regulations themselves.
Net neutrality sounds wonky and technical but is actually quite simple. It would keep the Internet as it has always been - cable and phone companies would remain mere gateways to all sites, rather than gatekeepers determining where users can go and what innovators can offer them.