Last Friday the FCC ruled to punish Comcast for violating Net Neutrality rules and blocking Internet traffic. While I used to be a strong proponent of Net Neutrality, I’m starting to reconsider my position now that I’ve discovered my Libertarian-leanings.
I used to view this issue as one of absolute necessity and importance. Something MUST be done, or else we’re left with this in our future:
That’s definitely no good.
While part of me is secretly glad that Comcast was punished for their questionable business practices, one must keep in mind that the FCC is a federal agency and Comcast is a publicly-owned company. The U.S. Constitution says nothing about the federal government meddling in the affairs of businesses (it also says nothing about using these companies to spy on Americans, but that’s a whole other matter.)
Of course I don’t agree with their business practices and I’m very glad they aren’t my ISP. However — in a Free Market we wouldn’t need government intervention to deal with this sort of problem, we would simply leave them as a customer. Alas, we quite obviously do NOT live in a Free Market society and telecommunications monopolies are a bitter reality. In my apartment complex, for example, the only cable/internet option is Time Warner. Which means either I pay their outlandish price every month or I get static.
The issue of Net Neutrality is a perfect example of how the Free Market could be used to solve consumer problems instead of asking the government for help. Instead of being forced to put up with whatever sketchy access Comcast decided to give its customers, people could simple choose another ISP. Another bonus– the Free Market doesn’t eat up our tax dollars.
Here’s my dilemma, let’s say for example, that a new ISP were to pop up. Now they would do a lot of advertising on the web to get their name and title out there. But without net neutrality, ISPs have complete control on the packets of information that arrive to its customers. So with basic company policy, it would be best for any opposing ISP to block, its competitors sites. If this were allowed to happen, would this promote a free market, or lead to an oligopoly? It is my opinion that ISPs should have free reign, except when it comes to censoring information.