Larry Downes is project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. He is co-author with Paul Nunes of “Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Innovation.»
Self-proclaimed consumer advocate groups are taking pride in having panicked millions of Americans to voice outrage over an imminent F.C.C. plot to destroy the Internet as we know it by authorizing Internet providers to offer fast lanes to content providers.
But Thursday’s vote, as these groups knew all along, was never going to authorize anything. The misinformation that periodically derails this 10-year-old debate belies the not-so-hidden agenda of those who would prefer transforming Internet access, to use their words, into a “public utility.”
Some want the Internet to become a ‘public utility’ to guarantee neutrality. But there’s a reason why our public infrastructure is crumbling.
Under public utility law, federal and state regulators take over many of the business functions of providers of essential services, setting prices, approving service changes of all kinds, establishing standards and ensuring equal access to all competitors. If that sounds like the silver bullet for whatever problems may pop up to hinder future Internet innovation, ask yourself how well public utility oversight is working where it’s already established. Throughout the United States, roads and bridges are collapsing, power and water systems have deteriorated through poor maintenance, and gas pipes keep exploding.
Public utilities can’t and don’t invest in the kind of fast-changing technologies that have long-defined Internet access. No surprise that the American Society of Civil Engineers consistently grades our public infrastructure a “D+.”
Converting private Internet providers into public utilities wouldn’t even prohibit prioritization. Which is a good thing. Some content — notably high-definition video — requires priority over less time-sensitive traffic, such as email. Under a “true” net neutrality regime, all traffic would be treated the same. You think your Netflix streaming is slow now? Just wait.
Internet access speeds and the range of useful applications have both improved by orders of magnitude over the last decade and a half, precisely because there were no federal or state agencies micromanaging their evolution, resulting in over a trillion dollars in private infrastructure investment.
During that time, to pick a close comparison, the closely regulated public utility telephone network has fallen into decay and disuse. It will soon be absorbed into better and cheaper Internet-based alternatives.
Those who think that we should turn management of the Internet’s infrastructure over to the government had better dig out their 2400 baud modems. Not long ago, that was the “Internet as we know it.” Thank goodness it was allowed to evolve.
Self-proclaimed consumer advocate groups are taking pride in having panicked millions of Americans to voice outrage over an imminent F.C.C. plot to destroy the Internet as we know it by authorizing Internet providers to offer fast lanes to content providers.
But Thursday’s vote, as these groups knew all along, was never going to authorize anything. The misinformation that periodically derails this 10-year-old debate belies the not-so-hidden agenda of those who would prefer transforming Internet access, to use their words, into a “public utility.”
Some want the Internet to become a ‘public utility’ to guarantee neutrality. But there’s a reason why our public infrastructure is crumbling.
Under public utility law, federal and state regulators take over many of the business functions of providers of essential services, setting prices, approving service changes of all kinds, establishing standards and ensuring equal access to all competitors. If that sounds like the silver bullet for whatever problems may pop up to hinder future Internet innovation, ask yourself how well public utility oversight is working where it’s already established. Throughout the United States, roads and bridges are collapsing, power and water systems have deteriorated through poor maintenance, and gas pipes keep exploding.
Public utilities can’t and don’t invest in the kind of fast-changing technologies that have long-defined Internet access. No surprise that the American Society of Civil Engineers consistently grades our public infrastructure a “D+.”
Converting private Internet providers into public utilities wouldn’t even prohibit prioritization. Which is a good thing. Some content — notably high-definition video — requires priority over less time-sensitive traffic, such as email. Under a “true” net neutrality regime, all traffic would be treated the same. You think your Netflix streaming is slow now? Just wait.
Internet access speeds and the range of useful applications have both improved by orders of magnitude over the last decade and a half, precisely because there were no federal or state agencies micromanaging their evolution, resulting in over a trillion dollars in private infrastructure investment.
During that time, to pick a close comparison, the closely regulated public utility telephone network has fallen into decay and disuse. It will soon be absorbed into better and cheaper Internet-based alternatives.
Those who think that we should turn management of the Internet’s infrastructure over to the government had better dig out their 2400 baud modems. Not long ago, that was the “Internet as we know it.” Thank goodness it was allowed to evolve.
