Net Neutrality debate renewed
December 3rd, 2007 | by Jose Miguel Cansado |In US these days there has been a lot of renewed debate on Net Neutrality. See video below from Sen. Ted Kennedy for those not familiar with the issue
The fact that Comcast was throttling BitTorrent P2P traffic, triggered the debate whether Net Neutrality regulations would force the Service Provider not to slow down P2P traffic.Comcast argues, that even with Net neutrality laws, the only thing Comcast was doing was reasonable Network management.
“Comcast does not, has not, and will not block any Web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services, and no one has demonstrated otherwise,” spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice told CNET News.com. “We engage in reasonable network management to provide all of our customers with a good Internet experience, and we do so consistently with FCC policy.”
Should the Congress approve Net neutrality regulations, even if somehow those are interventionist on private sector business?
Wouldn’t these issues be better fixed by Market laws? The Government should just guarantee competition exists. e.g. users would move from Comcast to other Service Provider that does not throttle their traffic. As long as there is enough competition the open free Internet would survive, wouldn’t it?
I tend to agree with liberal thesis in favor of free market, but a la European, i.e. with exceptions in some areas where the System must intervene to secure equal opportunity for all: Justice, Health, Education, public infrastructures and, why not, Internet.
Internet is a cornerstone of our current society. Governments should take care of it.
Go for Net Neutrality, even if it upsets Service Providers.
