Its Not Too Late To Save Net Neutrality From a Captured FCC
Its Not Too Late To Save Net Neutrality From a Captured FCC
by @VWPickard
The Federal Communications Commission has once again become industrys servant. Ajit Pai, the former Verizon lawyer and current Trump-appointed FCC chairman, has ushered in a virulent strain of market libertarianism, pledging to use a weed whacker against common-sense Internet regulations.
A key part of Pais agenda is to hollow out net neutrality, the public interest safeguard that prevents Internet service providers from discriminatory practices like blocking or slowing down online content or coercing fees from content providers to create pay-to-play fast lanes.
The debate over net neutrality has always been much more than a technocratic squabble over controlling Internet pipes. What its really about is a far larger power struggle over access to information and peoples rights to express themselves politically and creatively. Its also about the governments role in ensuring a level playing field and preventing corporate monopolies from abusing a socially vital infrastructure.
In other words, net neutrality is part of a social contract between information providers, government, and society. This contract must include a clear regulatory role for the FCC because without it market forces wont automatically provide and protect public goods like information.
More at:
https://www.thenation.com/article/its-not-too-late-to-save-net-neutrality-from-a-captured-fcc/