“For a few brief, beautiful moments in the Internet’s history (from the mid-90s to the early 2000s), a majority of Netizens and cyber-policy pundits alike all rallied around the flag of “Hands Off the Net!” From censorship efforts, encryption controls, online taxes, privacy mandates and infrastructure regulations, there was a general consensus as to how much authority government should have over cyber life and our cyber liberties,” Thierer and Szoka write. “Simply put, there was a ‘presumption of liberty’ in all cyber matters.”
Thierer and Szoka write, “Those days are now gone; the presumption of online liberty is giving way to a presumption of regulation. A massive assault on real Internet freedom has been gathering steam for years and has finally come to a head. Ironically, victory for those who carry the banner of “Internet Freedom” would mean nothing less than the death of that freedom.
“We refer to the gradual but certain movement to have the federal government impose ‘neutrality’ regulation for all Internet actors and activities–and in particular, to Monday’s announcement by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski that new rules will be floated shortly,” Thierer and Szoka write. “‘But wait,’ you say, ‘You’re mixing things up! All that’s being talked about right now is the application of ‘simple net neutrality,’ regulations for the infrastructure layer of the net.’ You might even claim regulations are not really regulation but pro-freedom principles to keep the net ‘free and open.'”
“Such thinking is terribly short-sighted,” Thierer and Szoka write. “Here is the reality: Because of the steps being taken in Washington right now, real Internet Freedom–for all Internet operators and consumers, and for economic and speech rights alike–is about to start dying a death by a thousand regulatory cuts.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In case you missed it: As we said back in August 2006: “We don’t presume to know the best way to get there, but we support the concept of “Net Neutrality” especially as it pertains to preventing the idea of ISP’s blocking or otherwise impeding sites that don’t pay the ISP to ensure equal access. That said, we usually prefer the government to be hands-off wherever possible, Laissez-faire, except in cases where the free market obviously cannot adequately self-regulate (antitrust, for example). Regulations are static and the marketplace is fluid, so such regulation can often have unintended, unforeseen results down the road. We sincerely hope that there are enough forces in place and/or that the balances adjust in such a manner as to keep the ‘Net as neutral as it is today.”
That we have the same Take over three years later should be telling. Government regulations are not a panacea, neither are the lack thereof. It’s all about striking a proper balance where innovation can thrive while abuses are prevented.