jasongpeirce
Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2015
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- 45
Geoffrey A. Manne is out with an article in WIRED on net neutrality “The FCC’s Net Neutrality Victory Is Anything But.” Manne is Executive Director of the International Center for Law and Economics (ICLE). Here are 8 brief takeaways from the article. Yes, net neutrality has been covered ad nauseum. But as the issue of net neutrality heads toward the courts, it’s important to keep it in the policy window.
1. Manne writes that “almost no one really gets it (net neutrality)” save for a handful of internet engineers and innovators such as Mark Cuban. Cuban said that net neutrality would create a politicized “Whac-a-Mole environment” and “f*ck everything up.” Also, Manne implies that the “supposed” four million pro-net neutrality comments the FCC acted on may not have come from grass-roots, regular Americans (were the comments rather from Astro-Turf political action committees?). The deeper question though, is this: do you “get” net neutrality?
2. Manne notes that with net neutrality the FCC now has authority over anything it deems “unreasonable.” "Unreasonable" may be your political opinion. This is what Cuban meant by saying net neutrality creates a "politicized Whac-a-Mole environment." The FCC can now "whac" your political opinion off the internet. Furthermore, “’Reasonable’ is perhaps the most litigated word in American history” says former Commissioner Robert McDowell. Also, Manne asserts that the FCC can now oversee interconnection agreements, even though interconnection problems have been minimal, and interconnection costs have fallen 99 percent since 1998.
3. Manne says smaller Internet Service Providers (ISP) will find it harder to compete with larger ISPs. This effect of heavier regulations is true across most industries. Regulations crush small businesses which cannot financially afford to meet regulations.
4. Net neutrality will raise your broadband bill. Says Manne: “A range of state and local fees apply only to common-carrier telecommunications services—which is what the FCC just made your broadband internet service.”
5. Net neutrality protects established businesses from upstarts more than it protects upstarts from ISPs. Manne: “Think about it: If you’re ‘the next Facebook,’ who do you think is more worried about you? Your ISP, or Facebook itself?”
6. Irony: With net neutrality, ISPs are now regulated as common carriers. As Manne points out, the consequence is that the Federal Trade Commission cannot enforce its consumer protection laws against ISPs anymore. Wasn’t net neutrality supposed to “protect” the consumer?
7. Net neutrality is unnecessary: “The record leading up to last week’s vote contained evidence of only five instances in the history of the internet where ISPs may have thwarted content providers’ access to end-users, none of which required heavy-handed net neutrality rules to address” says Manne.
8. The biggest beneficiaries of net neutrality may be telecom attorneys. New regulations act as job stimulus bills for attorneys.
In closing, here’s the headline of the week: “Netflix Exec Says It Didn’t Actually Want FCC to Regulate Broadband So Heavily” (Variety, 3/4/2015). Memo to Netflix: the FCC is a federal government bureaucracy. What did you think was going to happen?
Do you believe Manne’s assessment of net neutrality? If you do, then why did the Obama administration and the FCC push so hard for net neutrality?
1. Manne writes that “almost no one really gets it (net neutrality)” save for a handful of internet engineers and innovators such as Mark Cuban. Cuban said that net neutrality would create a politicized “Whac-a-Mole environment” and “f*ck everything up.” Also, Manne implies that the “supposed” four million pro-net neutrality comments the FCC acted on may not have come from grass-roots, regular Americans (were the comments rather from Astro-Turf political action committees?). The deeper question though, is this: do you “get” net neutrality?
2. Manne notes that with net neutrality the FCC now has authority over anything it deems “unreasonable.” "Unreasonable" may be your political opinion. This is what Cuban meant by saying net neutrality creates a "politicized Whac-a-Mole environment." The FCC can now "whac" your political opinion off the internet. Furthermore, “’Reasonable’ is perhaps the most litigated word in American history” says former Commissioner Robert McDowell. Also, Manne asserts that the FCC can now oversee interconnection agreements, even though interconnection problems have been minimal, and interconnection costs have fallen 99 percent since 1998.
3. Manne says smaller Internet Service Providers (ISP) will find it harder to compete with larger ISPs. This effect of heavier regulations is true across most industries. Regulations crush small businesses which cannot financially afford to meet regulations.
4. Net neutrality will raise your broadband bill. Says Manne: “A range of state and local fees apply only to common-carrier telecommunications services—which is what the FCC just made your broadband internet service.”
5. Net neutrality protects established businesses from upstarts more than it protects upstarts from ISPs. Manne: “Think about it: If you’re ‘the next Facebook,’ who do you think is more worried about you? Your ISP, or Facebook itself?”
6. Irony: With net neutrality, ISPs are now regulated as common carriers. As Manne points out, the consequence is that the Federal Trade Commission cannot enforce its consumer protection laws against ISPs anymore. Wasn’t net neutrality supposed to “protect” the consumer?
7. Net neutrality is unnecessary: “The record leading up to last week’s vote contained evidence of only five instances in the history of the internet where ISPs may have thwarted content providers’ access to end-users, none of which required heavy-handed net neutrality rules to address” says Manne.
8. The biggest beneficiaries of net neutrality may be telecom attorneys. New regulations act as job stimulus bills for attorneys.
In closing, here’s the headline of the week: “Netflix Exec Says It Didn’t Actually Want FCC to Regulate Broadband So Heavily” (Variety, 3/4/2015). Memo to Netflix: the FCC is a federal government bureaucracy. What did you think was going to happen?
Do you believe Manne’s assessment of net neutrality? If you do, then why did the Obama administration and the FCC push so hard for net neutrality?
