Shifting Out of Neutral: Net Neutrality Defenders Fire Back
posted by Deven Desai
The net neutrality debate continues. Groups such as The SavetheInternet Coalition have some resources on the issue. As an advocacy group, the Coalition offers some statements about the issue that may be, shall we say, skewed. Recent attention from our own Frank Pasquale and Boing Boing show that the issue is not resolved and better information on the topic is needed. Enter legal academics who have been addressing the issue in journals. One of the more vocal participants against net neutrality is Christopher Yoo. Although others may have fired back, Brett Frischmann and Barbara van Schewick’s paper, Network Neutrality and the Economics of an Information Superhighway: A Reply to Professor Yoo, on the topic merits a read. One great thing about the paper is that apparently Professor Yoo discussed it with the authors. Hopefully, these sorts of exchanges will inform the policy debates and help fashion a solution less pushed by lobbying spin and more driven by the heart of the issue.
September 16, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Posted in: Technology
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Responses (1)
Jack S. - September 17, 2007 at 3:25 am
If we were truly getting to the heart of the issue, free market competition would come to the surface. Net Neutrality has allowed politicians, legal scholars, the FCC, telco’s and friends of google to spill oceans of ink that would not otherwise be necessary had the 1996 Telco Act worked as was intended.
Not surprisingly this type of regulatory debate has not seen the light of day in competitive European and Asian markets. Sure, it gets mentioned from time to time, but probably just a hahaha laugh at the silly overly regulated US market.
I’m no fan of seeing broadband under Title 1 of the Telco Act, but grafting net neutrality (or lack thereof) on to existing legislation and regulations is going to make an even bigger mess out of an already bad situation.
My only hope is that google wins the 700Mhz licenses and creates a new internet monopoly. Monopoly it may become, but it surely couldn’t be any worse than what we have now.
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