[clue-talk] Net neutrality

[Jed S. Baer]

On Mon, 08 May 2006 15:50:47 -0600
Matt Gushee wrote:

> I recently heard that Congress is considering legislation that would 
> allow internet providers--especially large ones, I guess--to allocate or
> withhold bandwidth as they see fit. This raises the specter of 
> censorship, they say. Makes sense on the face of it, and I'm inclined on
> general principles to distrust whatever large media companies want.
> 
> But I wonder what you're all hearing about this issue. How worried 
> should we be?

That depends upon your starting premises. Do you start out from the
premise that the companies who own the wires/fiber have property rights?
To what extent do you think the government should be able to abrogate such
rights? Doesn't ownership imply control?

Let's say you own a large piece of property, and you've put in a private
road, from one side to the other. This route happens to be the easiest,
most convenient, fastest route from point A to point B, on either side of
your property. You also own a trucking company, and your trucks travel on
this private road between those two points. Should the government be able
to force you to open your road to other traffic, such as that from
competing trucking companies? Suppose you have two roads. One is a
well-maintained freeway, which you reserve for the exclusive use of your
trucks. The other is still pretty good, but the speed limit is lower, and
it isn't as smooth, and you let anyone use it on a fee basis, based on
type of vehicle, etc. Should the government be able to tell you it's
unfair for you to restrict your premium road to only your traffic?

There are many issues here, in the vein of regulated monopolies and public
utilities. IMHO, they all come down to the question of how much the state
should abrogate property rights for the sake of the "common good".

Probably (I don't know, just speculating) some of the same people who are,
and have been, advocating that the FCC get out of the business of
regulating the airwaves are also arguing that the internet should be
regulated to make it "fair". Well, what's fair? And to whom?

jed
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