An open internet does not depend upon smug statists
There’s been much anxiety of late about the threat of broadband carriers to give preferred treatment to some services over others, endangering the open nature of the internet. Some smugly point to this as a case for government regulation to preserve that openness. Without additional regulation on behalf of “openness”, so the reasoning goes, the internet will become a much more controlled place held hostage to these plutocratic interests. The article linked above politely but ever so smugly presents this as a case of, although it doesn’t use the term, “market failure”. It challenges fake opponents of regulation (Republicans) along with sincere opponents of regulation (libertarians) alike to be more like those nice, reasonable people who want more regulation.
In doing so, the article promotes the same statist failure of vision that libertarians have been debunking for decades, if not centuries. The internet would not be held hostage by these plutocratic interests were it not for the role of regulation in thwarting competition in the first place. You want an open internet? Abolish the FCC and let people build the free networks they want to build.
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