Net Neutrality: Words of Wisdom

An email went out tonight, by me, Mike Glenn. It was sent to senators, congress people, local officials here in Newport, friends, and business owners throughout the nation. It laid out what I believe to be the most succinct overview of Net Neutrality that I know of. I’ll quote it here, below:

Dear friends, media, business owners, politicos, and government officials,

I am about to tell you everything you want to know about what I believe to be quite literally one of most important issues of the decade: Net Neutrality.  If this email is too long, simply skip to the bottom for the summary.

As you probably know, I’ve been involved with software development and computer networking my entire life, I am the owner of a small software company, and also very involved with politics on all levels, advocating for smaller government.  With these three things in mind, I’d like to talk to you about one of the most important issues up for debate that we’ve had for decades: Net Neutrality.

First, let me make clear that Net Neutrality is not a “new” thing.  It’s been around in practice, law, or both since the beginning of the Internet.  In January, the court of appeals struck it down.

So what is it, anyway?  In a nutshell, Net Neutrality ensures that when you ask your browser to visit a website, it simply works.  Want to go to CNN.com?  Done.  eBay?  No problem!  How about Netflix? Violà– choose a movie!

The reason this works so well is that there is no content filtering: All data traffic is treated equally.  This is the essence of Net Neutrality.

Since the repeal in January of this year, the first shots have been fired in a war that has the power to fundamentally change the way the Internet functions in our nation– forever.  Specifically, Comcast– who provides both Internet and cable TV– began throttling the connections for Netflix— who provides Internet-based TV.  Comcast demanded payment of millions and millions of dollars in exchange for turning the pipes back on.  Netflix initially refused, but quickly came to realize that this was no bluff, and succumbed to the demands of Comcast, paying millions so that their customers could finally access their service again.

Again: this was merely the first shot fired, and more is going to come (AT&T basically said that they were not going to honor Net Neutrality anymore, either).  This type of control over our content doesn’t go just one way: What if BigCable decides to simply not allow Netflix or other streaming services, because it competes with their core business?  What if eBay secures a deal to be the only shopping website for a provider?  The ISPs can simply shut down these services and deny access to Internet users.  As mentioned earlier, these are not merely “what ifs”– these happenings have already begun.

The kneejerk response from free-market advocates (like myself) would be to simply let the free market take care of it.  There’s only one problem: There is no free market when it comes to ISPs.  High speed Internet is a monopoly in 80% of markets, and an overtly non-competitive duopoly in the rest.  The barrier to entry to be a player? Four hundred billion dollars (doubling from $200 billion in 2007).  If you were to combine the entire liquidated net worth of Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Bill Gross, and Oprah— you’d be less than a third of the way there– and that’s if the government wasn’t already implementing practices that dictate no competition emerges for these players.  Simply put: Free market methodology cannot be applied to monopolies, because no competition will be generated.

I hope I have established two things:
1) We need Net Neutrality
2) ISPs are a monopoly

Now, let’s move on to the solutions

The arguments currently being offered at the federal level are all centered in a false dichotomy: That we can either reclassify the Internet as a Title II service, or that we cannot have Net Neutrality at all.  Both of these are equally dangerous.  Here are the differences between Title I and Title II– something that is key to know in this argument:
– The FCC classification of “Title I” is essentially a laissez faire classification.  This is how the Internet is currently categorized.  It is not taxed, and is largely left unregulated by the FCC.  In simple terms, they have said “We don’t understand this emerging technology, so we aren’t going to mess with it”.
– The FCC classification of “Title II” is what governs things like radio or televisions– they are well-known mediums whose fundamental technology doesn’t often change.  They are subject to “decency standards” and also a whopping 16.1% tax.  The last thing we need online is the FCC dictating what kind of speech we can have– or a 16.1% tax.

There are two ways to restore Net Neutrality without destroying the Internet in the process:
1) Allow the FCC to appeal the January decision to the Supreme Court (and win).  This maintains its status as a Title I service.
2) Through an act of Congress, mandate that the Internet remain a Title I service and also apply Net Neutrality rules to it.

In summary:

1) The Internet needs to restore the Net Neutrality rules that were repealed in January.
2) ISPs are monopolies and cannot be subjected to free market rules (because the absence of competition does not make a free market).
3) Title II reclassification of the Internet is just as bad as not restoring Net Neutrality.  We need Net Neutrality under a Title I classification.
4) The solution is to either appeal January’s decision or to create an act of Congress restoring Net Neutrality.

I believe that the Internet is one of the most important things that humankind has ever created.  It has allowed the free exchange of ideas, the streamlining of business, and revolutions in efficiency that we could never have imagined previously.  It is one section of the US economy that has continued to grow in spite of the Great Recession– year after year.

We must be extremely careful with what we do and how we treat this great mechanism.  The decisions we make today will have an enormous impact in 20 years.  To have the best possible opportunity for competition internationally, our children need and deserve the Internet with Net Neutrality rules intact.

Please help work with me to spread the word about the necessity of restoring Net Neutrality, but never, ever by reclassifying the internet as a Title II service– both issues are of equal importance.

I am open for any questions you may have, simply hit Reply, or give me a call at 949.229.0096

Mike Glenn, CEO, Devion Software Developers
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaveOurInternet

PS: Please feel free to pass this along to your friends.

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