The modern Internet is a creation of the free market, which has brought about a revolution in communication, free speech, education, and commerce. New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski apparently doesn't like that.
I am confused. Net neutrality used to be used to describe the very things which helped create the internet, and I had always understood as an effort to continue and preserve that. Wasn't the idea to prevent a third party from keeping one from using certain sites, or particular equipment or software to connect, or to download particular content? Why would we want that? And how would that be an example of the way the internet was created? Have I been confused about the meaning of this term all these years, or has it simply morphed in meaning?
ping
It just doesn’t stop. It’s Acorn. Healthcare. Cap and Trade. Troop movement in Afghanistan. Fox News. On and on.
The White House keeps throwing all of these balls in the air. They have so much stuff going on. It’s like they are trying to overwhelm the public. There is too much for us to keep track of. In the meantime they are doing this and that in the background while we are too busy to notice. They want it that way.
You're not confused, but some FReepers who swallowed the telco Kool-Aid are.
No. 124 Neutralism: The Strange Philosophy Behind the Movement for Net Neutrality
Policy Studies > 2009
Info Technology > Internet
Info Technology > Network Neutrality
Telecom > Network Neutrality (See Info Tech)
Written By: James G. Lakely
Published In: Policy Studies > 2009
Publication date: 10/05/2009
Publisher: The Heartland Institute
The election of Barack Obama as president ushered in a new era of regulatory zeal in Washington, with both Congress and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) determined to solve alleged problems with access to and management of the Internet. Advocates of “network neutrality” have the federal government’s ear and seem closer than at times past to achieving their goal of greater government control over the Internet. Their success would change the online experience of every American.
This study examines the philosophy that underlies the movement for network neutrality, which telecom expert Scott Cleland has dubbed “neutralism.” Neutralism stands in striking contrast to the innocuous-sounding Internet “freedom” its advocates call for. Understanding neutralism helps explain why network neutrality would have consequences that are quite the opposite of what its proponents claim. Not all advocates of network neutrality believe in neutralism, and some aren’t even aware that the policy arose from such a strange philosophy. One purpose of this paper is to inform those neutrality advocates of the radical agenda they have unwittingly bought into.
http://www.heartland.org/publications/policy%20studies/article/26061/