Spare the Net

The Washington Times ^ | 4-22-08 | Dick Armey

[JZelle]

When economic stagnation gripped the country in the 1970s, I was an economics professor in my home state of Texas. Back then when I was teaching a class and needed a real-world example of how government overregulation harmed the economy and stifled innovation, I would point to any number of sectors in the economy. This was the era when making a long-distance call was a big deal.

In the wake of the economic malaise of the 1970s, economists began to seriously look at deregulation as a way to enhance economic growth. Airlines, trucking, energy and telecommunications all were opened to market competition, unleashing a new era of economic growth, innovation and investment.

The telecommunications industry went from protected regional monopolies to a competitive marketplace, and when the government got out of the way, consumers won.

New technologies began to emerge, such as fax machines and mobile phones, while the costs of communications fell and service quality went up. Telecom became a text-book case demonstrating that markets work and are good for consumers.

This free market push continued into the 1990s. In less than a decade, the Internet moved from an academic experiment to become the backbone of our economic infrastructure. In a few short years, we went from dial-up modems to high-speed broadband connections.

The Web has moved beyond simple pages of information to streaming audio, video, and interactive technologies. The evolution continues, as innovation moves toward third generation Web applications. That is, unless the government decides to get in the way.

Despite the benefits the Internet has created and the dynamic innovations that continue, there is a move afoot to turn the Internet over to federal regulators in the name of protecting "Net neutrality," a nebulous concept that may turn out to be nastier than it sounds.

[rurgan]

Dick Armey is correct on this. Why doesn’t he run for President?

[Notary Sojac]

Dick Armey is dead wrong on this one.

By way of explanation, here is what your local phone service would look like without "phone neutrality"

(beep)"This is Bell South. It looks like you are trying to order a pizza from Domino's. Please press (1) if that is correct"

pressing (1)

"Thank you. We have some excellent specials available today from Bell South's pizza partner, Little Caesar's! Please press (1) to order from Little Caesar's or (2) to continue with your Domino's order."

pressing (2)

"Thank you. Please stand by for five minutes while we expedite orders for our Little Caesar's customers"

....click....

Actually, it's worse than that for Internet service. Most Americans now have a choice of several different phone providers, while broadband service is limited to (a) the local cable company's government granted monopoly or (2) the local telco's government granted monopoly.